The Dreams We Left Behind
by Melissa Ordesky
Summary: COMPLETE. Syaoran wasn’t brave enough to tell Sakura his feelings before he left for H.K. and is held captive by his family. Sakura is forced through a deadly test. Can Syaoran get to her in time?
1. This Is It

**~.~The Dreams We Left Behind ~.~**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky 

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Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_ *gasp*. Based on the anime. 

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_**Premise: **_ Syaoran wasn't brave enough to tell Sakura his feelings before he left for H.K., and so the second movie ended with Sakura and Syaoran standing on the opposite ledges, waiting for the ledges to be replaced now the Sealed Card has become the Hope card. 

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**Chapter One - This Is It **

_Syaoran_

This is it. 

That's all I remember thinking, that moment, when I realised that the one with the most power was me. This is it. This is when I lose my most important feeling. _Closed eyes, clenched fists, hold on._ Thisisitthisisitthisisitthisisit. Nothing more eloquent, nothing more articulate, nothing but those three words. I couldn't think anything more than that, because thinking about losing what I felt - oh God, _still feel_ - for Sakura was... No, that was worse. That was worse than it even happening, _thinking_ about it happening.

And worse than that, thinking about it happening without Sakura even knowing. Nothing of my feeling would remain, at all. Maybe that would have made it easier.

As if in slow motion, I saw the strange girl turn on me, fire in her eyes. The magic of my clan would not aid me now. I faced it, terror in my heart, and obduracy on my face. Sakura would never know if it were to hurt. I was determined to spare her that much worry. Not that she would care that much for me, you understand. Sakura cares for everyone's well-being, regardless of who they are. 

And then, Sakura saved the day again. Weary, but determined, she'd clung on until the end, never willing to give in until the very end. The card that had formed when all the other 52 cards were transformed into Sakura Cards - the mysterious heart and wings - shot out from her possession and merged with the Sealed Card. I saw out of the corner of my eye a beam of pinkish light shoot towards her, but I couldn't look. I was frozen to the spot, all those horrible thoughts still going around my head. _What if - even beaten - she had more power than me? What if she lost her most important feeling? What if _I _did, and I don't even realise?_

"The card, Li." Shaking my head slowly, shaking me out of the reverie I'd drifted into, I looked uncomprehendingly at the source of the sound for a long second, until my thoughts suddenly lurched and started working again. Sakura was speaking, her eyes earnestly shining with unshed tears, and - I could only just dare to believe it - hope on her face.

"What card?" I don't know how I managed to find my voice, but find it I did. I'm glad my brain started to gradually work before my voice stumblingly returned, else who knows what I would have blurted out? 

Actually, I know exactly what would have come out. _IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou_. In that same frantic babble that my purported loss-of-most-important-feeling had dragged out of me. Somewhere in the depths of my soul, I'm a babbler. Strange, huh? 

"The Hope." Her voice is reverent as her fingers ghost lovingly over the card grasped tightly in her hand like a hard-won prize. Something in me is absently wishing that she was touching _me_ like that, and I yell inwardly at that something. 

"Huh?" 

Sakura lowered the card doubtfully, her eyes widened in horror, and she moved one hand close to her mouth fleetingly. "Li, you- you-" She stumbled slightly on the ledge, and my heart leapt into my mouth. "You were the one with the most power," she said dazedly, her too-green eyes flashing with some indefinable emotion. "I used mine up changing the cards, and you-" She fell abruptly silent.

I stared back at her, speechless, until I understood. "No, no! Sakura, it's okay. Whatever happened, I didn't… I didn't lose my… Y'know." Comforted by her sudden relaxation of her posture, my mouth suddenly went dry. "Uh, you di-"

"No, no." She shook her head quickly, the Hope card still grasped in her hand.

_I _knew I hadn't lost my most important feeling, because when she looked at me I still felt as if nothing else mattered in the world, as long as she kept looking at me like _that_. A suspicious doubt niggled at me. "How can you be sure?" 

For some reason, the question startled her, and her cheeks darkened. I couldn't exactly be sure, but despite all the shadows, it really looked as if she was blushing. Then, of course, the horrifying thought struck home. _Yukito. She had those feelings for Yukito, and-_ Jealousy welled up inside like blood seeping through a surface wound, and I'd had way too much experience of those for my liking.

The blush, if that is what it was, on Sakura's cheeks deepened, and she raised her head arrogantly. "I know," she said firmly, as if that was all that mattered in the world. She paused, bobbing slightly on the balls of her feet. "How can _you_ be sure?" 

I _know_ I was blushing. Ridiculous blushing, too. I was practically convinced that she could see my face perfectly even in the gloom because it surely must be glowing. "Because I- I-" I couldn't tell her the truth, but I _could_ tell her part of it before my timidity overruled my heart. "Because I still believe in you, Sakura." 

"Oh." That _oh_ touched me to the quick. It wasn't an _oh_ meaning "I hear ya." It wasn't an _oh_ meaning "Man, that's something bad." It was an _oh_ meaning far too much more than I dared to hope for. It was an _oh_ that was a startled _oh_, a too-rapid intake of breath, as if my words had startled her. 

I wasn't surprised. They startled me too.

"Anyway, I'm gonna jump over." Sakura tipped her head to one side at me, uncertain. "All 53 cards are finally sealed. There's nothing more that can go wrong." 

I know I cringed, and I know she spotted it.

"Li?" 

I cringed again, this time apologetically. "Those words are jinxed, I'm sure of it. Whenever anyone says those words, it gets much worse." Like the time, I add silently, mother said that someone _else_ was capturing Clow cards. Something more _did_ go wrong. I managed to somehow end up with rather embarrassing feelings for aforementioned Clow capturer, and - worse than that - ended up incapable of actually telling her. I was, you know. I was going to tell her before I left for Hong Kong, but… I couldn't work up the nerve. Instead I told her I believed in her, and just left, without telling her. 

Mind you, I also returned without telling her, but the look on her face was _so_ worth it. Sakura likes nice surprises, emphasis on the _nice_. Mei Ling says that the look on _my _face was so worth it, too. I hope it _was_ a nice surprise, come to think of it. Okay, Li, now is _not_ the time to be thinking negative thoughts! As She Fa always says, they're always the ones that come and bite you in the ass. 

"Ha, I can believe that." A small smile was playing openly on her grimy face. "We'll just wait for the effects of the Sealed Card to be reversed." 

"Okay," I said, but suddenly had to curse myself. If she'd leapt, and stumbled perchance, I could have caught her, and- But now was no time to daydream. Especially as the card's effects were reversed _then_, in sync with the sunrise flooding the dark cavern we were in. The steps around the edge were fully restored, and Sakura stepped down them lightly, with the grace of an angel, a fairy, a- Okay, so I'm obsessed with her, I get that. 

She joined me as I walked stiffly over to one of the large arched holes, suddenly aware of my awkwardness around her. Looking down, I could see many collapsed figures getting slowly to their feet, like ungainly fawns in their first moments of life. 

It was pure magic, watching the city sparkle back into life, watching the inhabitants awaken out of the nightmare and into the beauty of the new day, made even more magic by the ethereal but substantial presence hovering by my arm.

"They'll be okay," Sakura whispered, suddenly grabbing my arm with her spare hand. Tendrils of heat lashed up my arm to languish brilliantly on my face. Yep, that's right, I was glowing like a nuclear power station again. "Dad will-"

A look of pure horror flashed across her face, and the last thing I could have been thinking of spewed out of her pretty mouth like a fireball. God _knows_ how she thinks of these things at times like this!

"The play!" Sakura yelled, clasping the Hope card to her chest in her panic, allowing me a brief glimpse of the card; the girl who had sent such devastation at us, looking so peaceful entwined with a heart with wings. 

Sakura, I may have mentioned to many people on occasion, is a very passionate person. So when she gets enthusiastic, you get enthusiastic. It's nothing you can control, believe me. It's something about her countenance, the bubble in her voice, when she speaks with such fervour in her voice, you're hooked. Line _and_ stinker. 

Our gazes locked in panic, and we launched ourselves forwards in unison, pounding down the roughly hewn 'steps' as if we had the same amount of energy we'd started with yesterday. Adrenaline surged, and our fatigue was forgotten. As we slammed into the park, we saw Tomoyo, Mei Ling, Yukito and Kero in a heap, waking up sleepily. Further away, Touya was sleepily getting to his feet, although when he saw me his eyes narrowed. Sakura's older brother got to his feet faster than the others, and fairly flew through the air to glare at me.

"What. Have. You. Done. To. My. Sister. Brat!" 

Sakura, instead of stepping forwards to placate her brother as I thought she would, stepped backwards to stand in front of me. "Touya, Li helped me." 

Touya blinked uncertainly, looking at Sakura's grime-soaked face and outfit, the dirt and blood caking my face, and Yukito's drowsy figure amongst the fray, and sat down with a thump in a pile of dried leaves. It looked like he was about to break down and cry. 

"She's right, Touya."

Touya looked up at Yukito's soft expression, as the lithe silver-haired young man dragged himself over to where Touya was sat, thunderstruck. "He is the heir of the Li clan, the strongest Chinese magic clan. The Clow cards traditionally belong to his family, but Sakura was chosen to be the card mistress instead." 

Yukito put one hand gently on Touya's knee, and their eyes locked for a long second. I knew the truth about those two, as did Mei Ling - and Kero, I suspect, but Sakura and Tomoyo looked on perplexedly. "It's true," Yukito continued, awkwardly.

"I know it's true." Touya waved one hand dismissively. "Mizuki-sensei told me." 

"About me?" Yukito looked suddenly pale, as if he had receded so far back into himself that neither Yukito nor Yue were there at all. 

"I've _always_ known there was something special about you, Yukito," Touya said, a forgiving sort of expression on his face. 

I got the double meaning in that expression, and let it be. Sakura put her head on one side, fiercely thinking. _God, she's cute when she's thinking_, my mind irreverently tried to add, and then I chided myself. _She thinks all the time_, I tried as defence, but the answer irrevocably came back, _You think she's cute all the time_. 

Dammit. Now I can't even have a decent argument with myself any more. 

"What happened?" Touya's voice was brisk now, and somehow he'd managed to put his hand on Yukito's and neither looked too discontented at that simple gesture of their… _companionship_. 

Sakura made a small noise of unhappiness in the back of her throat. I hated that sound. That sound meant she was sad, and her being sad was something I could hardly bear. "There was a final card, a negative card with the power of all the positive cards. It was locked in the basement of Eriol's house, but when that was destroyed, the Sealed card became Unsealed, and- Well, it was supposed to require the loss of the most powerful person's most important feeling, but instead…" She reached into the folds of her costume and pulled out the Hope card. A brief flash of red caught my eye, making me realise Tomoyo had gotten over the shock and was busy, business as usual, recording all. 

I'm just glad she can't record inside my head. 

----- 

_Sakura_

I held forwards the Hope card, hardly bearing to believe that we'd got off so lightly. Of course, I use the word 'lightly' in relative terms! I was bruised all over, and couldn't wait to go back to bed and sleep. Li looked the same too, although slightly shaken. I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid! After changing all those cards, I was horribly exhausted, and he had the most power. If it hadn't been for the Love card… I don't know what I would have done. I could never live with myself if something happened to _anyone_ that I could have prevented. 

Yukito took the card in his large hands, turning it over reflectively while edging a look at Kero. Kero bobbed in the air, looking worriedly at Touya, as if he knew too much. Which he did. Know too much, I mean. I was going to have a serious talk with my brother when we got home. As it was, I was much more interested in Kero and Yukito's reactions to the Hope card.

"The other says that you have balanced the forces again," Yukito said, his brow furrowed, Touya's hand now lightly on Yukito's shoulder for support. 

The forces were balanced! Yes! I breathed a sigh of relief and felt, rather than saw, Li's tense posture relax at the same time. I looked over at Mei Ling, who was really pale and letting Kero perch on her shoulder, and Tomoyo, who was stood there shakingly with her camera. I guess that was what hit it home to me that this was a near miss. A _near_ miss with apocalyptic doom. 

I hit the ground with a dazed thud, my legs sprawling beneath me. _Very elegant, Sakura_. How come my brain always comes up with stupid irrelevant stuff while I'm in the middle of a nervous breakdown? Huh? 

I guess I expected Touya to reach me first, so it really shocked me when the person who thudded to the ground after me, one concerned hand on my forearm, was Li. 

"Are you all right?" 

I stared vacantly at Li. My vision normally blurred after a shock like that one - that this time the world really could have ended - but this time I could see him clearly. Maybe it was the effect of the breaking sunrise drenching the place in a warm pink-amber light. Whatever the reason, I don't think I've ever seen Li in such clarity before. His eyes were wide, the colour of polished wood, and I don't think I've ever realised before just how… _expressive_ they were. I think expressive is the right word, but even now I'm not too sure. His hair had fallen across his forehead, throwing shadows over his grazed and bruised face, and he looked… I don't know. I don't think there's a word for it. Perfect? 

I realised he was staring rather vacantly back at me, realised what I'd just exactly thought about him, and flushed. I probably looked like all my lights were on, but nobody was home. "Uh- Just a little-"

"Overwhelmed by the hugeness of it all?" Mei Ling suggested. 

I know I squeaked in reply, but to be honest it was out before I could stop it! _Real suave in front of Li, Sakura. Really sophisticated._ Then another thought struck me, totally irreverent too. Why did I care so much? I guess it's because I don't like looking like a prat in front of him. He insulted me so much at the beginning. I don't want him insulting me again. 

Yes, I know very well that that's not the entire truth, but it's all the truth I'm allowing right now, okay???? 

"And the play." I stiffened, and looked up at Li wild-eyed again. He still hadn't moved from where he'd moved down to check if I was okay, and his hand was still hovering on my arm. Not that I was complaining, or anything, even if my entire body ached. "The play!"

"I think the play's the last thing on anyone's minds right now," Mei Ling muttered impatiently.

"No, she's right, it's important," Tomoyo said, shutting down her video camera and looking from me to Li with wide, worried eyes. "Everyone will be back, and wondering what's going on." 

"Consequences, shmonsequences," I muttered gruffly, scrambling to my feet and very acutely feeling Li's hand as he helped me up. His arm slid under mine as we both scrambled to our feet, and as soon as we were upright he pulled his arm away, his cheeks reddened. _Probably from the wind and the fight_, I thought, feeling a small tug that it wasn't because… Well, I don't know what I hoped the redness in his cheeks meant. Correction: I don't think I want to know. 

Touya was giving me a swift appraising glance, and I was horribly aware that I was still in my battle costume. He flickered a narrowed glance at Li, as if my being the Card Captor was _his_ fault, and then back at me. "Cute costumes," Touya growled, and I just knew he was going to continue with something derogatory about Li. I stepped forwards menacingly, while Mei Ling jumped at me to hold me back and Tomoyo stepped forwards with a huge grin on her face.

"You like the costumes? I make all of Sakura's battle costumes with the top material! Shows respect for the cards, and the hard-wearing cloth makes the knocks less damaging! Of course, this one was designed to match Li's, which I made specially too! Li is sooooo protective of Sakura, you can't imagine."

The clever little minx - Tomoyo is such a genius! - grabbed my brother by his sleeve and started walking him in the direction of the school. Touya gaped at her like a landed goldfish.

"The brat is protective of Sakura?" Touya demanded helplessly. "When it's all his fault that she's in all that danger in the fir-" 

"Did she mention the costume she's designing next for Sakura has an in-built parachute, just in case the Fly card fails?" Mei Ling joined in on the whole distract-Touya scheme, and Touya, sandwiched between two girls I'm very appreciative of right now, looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a very large dumper truck.

"A parachute?" Yukito mused thoughtfully as we followed Touya, Tomoyo and Mei Ling. "That could be kind of nifty." 

"Wings are much better!" Kero fluttered off Mei Ling's shoulders, and nestled himself on the small bag swinging from my hip. 

"Oh, I agree," Yukito said with a muffled grin. 

"We're near the school." Li's voice was muted. "Kero, you'd better-" 

"Sakura???!!!!!!"

CRAP. 

I know, I'm supposed to be a lady, but- Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. Sometimes a lady just has to swear, you know? 

----- 

_Syaoran_

The battle outfits we could have probably explained. Said they were for the next part of the play. The grime - well, yes, that could have happened in the explosion. (Which I later found out they had tried to explain as a fuse box blowing up, or something.) The flying teddy bear, though. Y'know, that's always going to be a toughie to explain. 

Sakura's father looked from us to Kero, and back again, looking startled and lost for words. I felt so sorry for Sakura, finding out her brother knew all along and then her dad finding out in the same day that the world almost ended! 

"Sakura???!!!!!!!" He said, staring accusingly at Kero, then shrewdly at us all. I held my breath, and my "_Thisisit_" mantra started up again, throbbing and repetitive like an annoying American pop song. "Where did you go?"

"To. To. To. Get changed, dad." Sakura feebly smiled at her father. "We accidentally left the costumes at home, and Touya and Yukito helped us get them. Only in the- the storm, we couldn't see and Tomoyo and Mei Ling put too much mud and make-up on our faces. There was an awful lot of lightning, though…" 

Sakura's father blinked slowly. "You should be more careful, Sakura. This storm is horrendous." 

I couldn't believe it. It seems the old ways strike again. If someone non-magical sees something they don't believe, they pretend it wasn't there. Their minds just blank it out. Thank goodness Kero has some sense. He has slumped on Sakura's bag. It could have - elements willing - looked like someone had thrown him to her.

"I will in the future," Sakura said. "But I had my friends to look after me."

"Well, Mr. Terada has had the ninth graders from the workshop cleaning up the stage. They've decided to let the show go on in half an hour, as the weather has let up." Sakura's father still looked slightly dubious, but he shook his head as if to shake away his disbelief. "Come on, let's get you back there." 

I can't say I was happy about the play going on. Those words - the words I had desperately wanted to say to Sakura - had been the last thing spoken on stage, and my memory sprang back the rest of the play. I felt physically sick. I felt a warm hand on my arm, and looked up to see Mei Ling smiling at me. 

"You'll do great in your scenes, Syaoran. You were born to stand out!"

She flitted away almost as suddenly as she had touched my arm, to talk gaily with Tomoyo in a loud voice about the impending end to the play. Touya was actually evidencing that he had some sense despite his shock at actually being face-to-face with visual evidence. Being told about Clow Reed's lingering legacies is one thing, meeting them in real life is another thing entirely. 

"Thanks, Mei Ling," I whispered under my breath, and felt a warm breeze of happiness literally smack me in the face. _That _was the problem, Mei Ling being related to me. The auras of my relatives affect me physically when I'm weakened. I couldn't wait to be back to full strength… and for the play to be over! 

….. 

Well. The play went well, despite Chiharu falling through the hastily constructed walkway on the stage covering up the effects of the explosions, _and_ despite the fact that our entire audience was watching the whole thing with a fairly constipated expression on everyone's faces that screamed the fact they all thought that somehow wool had been pulled over their eyes. 

Which of course it had, on some scale or other. I slightly suspected Eriol's faint influence in the air, that stale smell of cherries and raw fish that hits my nostrils whenever he's been 'meddling', and was for once grateful to my reincarnated ancestor. He'd messed with people's memories a little, helping us carry on as if nothing had happened. 

Those of us who had known what had happened couldn't help but exchange furtive looks at each other over the stage, which only generally added to the audience's (and the majority of the cast's) feeling of being somewhat deceived. 

Stiffly, I clambered to my feet, Sakura giving me a stifled smile over her hands, which she was holding tightly to her mouth for some unclear reason. Mei Ling grabbed my hand, and we all shuffled to the front of the precarious stage to take our bows. The applause was thunderous, despite the general feeling of interference. I stumbled off the stage with Sakura's lines ringing in my head, imagining that they were real. _Hah_._ Dream on, Syaoran_. _ Dreeeeeeeam on_. 

Sakura breezed past me as we headed to the changing rooms, running over with Naoko and Tomoyo to check on Chiharu. Chiharu was propped up on some old crates and half a broken manikin, looking pale and shaken, and her cheeks were red. I leant back against the wall and watched the scene, finding it impossible to drag my gaze away. I watched, as Sakura talked to Chiharu earnestly, telling the overly-mallet-happy girl that Tomoyo had taped it all, and that her parts were excellent, and that Mei Ling had managed to cover her lines for her, and all was well. I knew as much as Sakura did that Sakura was close to collapsing, and yet she was still there, encouraging and sympathising a classmate with barely a fraction of the pain she was feeling. 

I guess I didn't realise I was staring until the seventh grade's string quartet bustled past, the Viola player jabbing me in the ribs with her bow as they bustled past and I squeaked involuntarily. Sakura lifted her head at the noise. I blushed instantly, my cheeks feeling sore from the repeated rushes of blood to the surface, and I ducked my head as I got out of there as quick as possible. 

My thoughts were running along the articulate lines of _crapitcrapitcrapit_, and I was so pleased Mother wasn't anywhere near. She just _knows_ when some of us are even _thinking_ bad words. I couldn't help it. We'd come so close to the whole world disappearing around our feet. The clan was going to be _so mad _at me. 

They were pretty mad as it was. All those years training me, and the eight cards that I managed to capture I handed over to a girl with no training. A girl with a half-magic heritage, a nobody, becoming the Card Mistress. I had broken off the engagement with Mei Ling a few weeks ago, an engagement which they had arranged over our cribs, because it was unfair to her - I could only love her in a sisterly way, and I know that's not what she wanted. And now, I'd almost let the whole world disappear!

I made it to the toilets just in time, skidding into one of the cubicles and landing with a thump on the ground. Resting against the door, I stared hollowly at the tiled walls. It wasn't _my _fault my family had such high hopes for me. It wasn't _my _fault that I was the only male born in the current generation. It… 

Oh, god. I'm sat here in the toilets, slumped to the ground in a floor that has probably been covered in wee by hundreds of first graders, trying to find someone to blame who isn't me! Jeeeez. Maybe all those times I called Sakura pathetic I should of turned around and put the epithet on myself. 

Sinking my head into my hands for a while, I eventually lifted my head and ran my hands through my hair. I felt sweaty and dirty and absolutely useless. Sure, I'd helped Sakura a little, but it had been Sakura's open heart that had created the card that had balanced the positive and negative energy in the end. 

I'd been absolutely no use at all. Whoop-de-freaking-doo. 

The door into the toilets squeaked slightly, and I leapt quickly to my feet, knowing how stupid it would look that I was just sat on the floor. Obviously it hadn't been fast enough, as a too-recognisable female voice asked: "Li?" 

Damn, crap it, damn. I had forgotten that the toilets were unisex in this wing of the school. Wishing the furious blush on my face would calm down, I resisted the childish urge to say I wasn't there and slowly exited the cubicle. I guess I looked pretty upset, because she stepped forwards faster than Kero does when you mention the word "cheesecake" within a three mile radius of him.

"Are you okay?" 

That's Sakura, caring about everyone before herself. "I- uh. Yeah." There was a small silence as I fidgeted with the sleeves of the battle costume Tomoyo had made me, and she shuffled. I remembered my manners a little too late. "Uh, and you?" 

"Oh." She went a little pink. I could see where she was coming from. This was kind of embarrassing, having a conversation in the toilets, and all. "I'm okay." 

I stared flatly at her, showing my disbelief in my unfaltering teacher-ish glare. 

"Tired, I guess," she admitted. "But - oh! You're bleeding!" 

I frowned at her, thinking maybe she meant a small cut on my face or something, and then something in me started worrying and I checked her over. If _I_ hadn't noticed that _I _was bleeding, maybe she hadn't noticed either.

Well, of course she would notice. I'm just… a useless idiot. I checked her over anyway, just to be sure. 

"On your arm," Sakura continued, stepping forwards and pulling my arm towards her. I swear my blush deepened even more. At this rate I'd be permanently purple before I reached fifteen! "Stop fidgeting." 

I forced myself to be still, but when her hands moved over my upper arm I winced, and snatched my arm back. I was totally unprepared for the angry expression that flitted over her face.

"You never said you were such a wimp, Li," she chided, brusquely taking my arm and yanking up the green material. She efficiently yanked some paper towels from the dispenser by her right elbow, for people to dry their hands. I was about to get offended, when I saw her expression. It was the same expression she used around Touya. I didn't know whether to be offended or feel honoured.

I settled for a queer combination of both. I guess my arm really was hurt. It must have gotten torn by some falling debris or something. I glanced over the mirror to get a closer look at it, and thankfully noticed that I wasn't quite as red as I imagined. Seeing our image reflected in the slight blur of the mirror was quite surreal. The gash looked quite deep, but clean, and cut right above my birthmark. I guess I hadn't told Sakura about the birthmark, because as she dabbed the blood away her eyes narrowed in curiosity. She wetted some more towels to clean the wound, and pulled out a cotton handkerchief from a concealed pocket on her costume. That's one thing Tomoyo aces at, the small details. It's what made her mother a millionaire, that trait. 

I tried not to fidget as Sakura tied the handkerchief around my arm, and pulled down the sleeve again. "Th-thanks," I muttered, feeling lousy that that stuttered word was all the thanks I could profess. Sakura smiled at me, although it wasn't the widest smile in the world. She _was_ tired, though. I'd have to drag her out to her father and Touya. Those two will yank her home and force her into bed in no time. 

"Nice birthmark," she commented, her mouth quirking suddenly at the corner in amusement.  
  
"Grew it myself," I replied darkly, earning a twitch in Sakura's smile.

"Looks like a Ying-Yang sign," Sakura said, almost nervously.

"Um. Yeah. It's been in my clan for generations. Every first born son sort of thing."

"Family history, blah, blah, blah?" 

I grinned. "Exactly." 

"Well." She wrung her hands, and looked away. "We'd better, um, get out of here." A sudden thought seemed to strike her. "Unless you, I mean-" 

She looked towards the stall doors, and I rapidly shook my head. "No, no."

Sakura relaxed, offered me a final brilliant smile, and turned on her heel towards the door.

"But didn't you-" I cursed my brain for trying to get a thought in edgeways as she turned around, the smile replaced by a solemn expression. "Didn't you need to… Uh…"

"What, pee?" Sakura teased. I wrinkled my nose and flickered a glance to the ceiling, as if to say _'women!'_ "No. I saw you come in, and- well- I guess I just wanted to- Uh-" She screwed her eyes up a little before opening them wide. "TellyouthankyouforfightingwithmeIcouldn'thavedoneitwithoutyou." Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked to the side as if she couldn't look at me while saying it. "I mean it. You helped me continue to believe I could do it."

"I didn't do anything," I commented, the bitterness of my earlier thoughts rising to the surface. 

Sakura stared at me in disbelief, before shrugging and looking at me flatly, mildly amused. "You didn't give up. You were there. You believed in me." Her words echoed what I had said just an hour previously. _Had it only been an hour ago? Feels like an eternity…_ "Pick one. You did all three." 

She turned, and in the mirrors I could see a small, contented smile on her face as she flounced out of the toilet. I allowed myself a smile of my own, content in the knowledge that she meant what she had said. Sakura's a truthful person, she'll tell you the truth tactlessly at times, but only when you need to hear it. She doesn't say anything she doesn't mean. It was a reassuring thought. 

I took another long moment to compose myself, and then sauntered out of the bathroom. Padding down the short corridor that led out outside, I opened the door, stepped outside and the cold air blasted against my face. I looked up… 

…and what I saw made me freeze on the spot. 

_Oh, shit_, my mind supplied eloquently. 

----- 

**Please review! Your comments are muchly appreciated! **


	2. Another of Touya's Jobs

**~.~The Dreams We Left Behind ~.~**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky 

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Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, mostly on Syaoran's part. Based on the anime. 

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**Last chapter: **The play went ahead, despite the interruption, with some help from Eriol to smooth over memories. Touya knows pretty much everything about the cards, Sakura's father doesn't. Syaoran thinks he is a failure, and saw something at the very end that could potentially… be very bad indeed… 

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**Chapter ****Two**** - Another of Touya's Jobs…**

_I took another long moment to compose myself, and then sauntered out of the bathroom. Padding down the short corridor that led out outside, I opened the door, stepped outside and the cold air blasted against my face. I looked up… _

_…and what I saw made me freeze on the spot. _

Oh, shit_, my mind supplied eloquently._

----- 

_Syaoran_

"I heard that thought, young man." 

I tried not to wince outwardly at the cold, reproving voice my Uncle Tae was using. He was dressed in full ceremonial regalia, brandishing the Li clan staff that was a symbol of his current position as temporary leader of the clan, looking at me with narrowed eyes. Behind him was my mother, my sisters, Mei Ling's parents and a gaggle of assorted uncles I haven't really kept a record of over the years. Well, it's not _my _fault all of them have such similar names, and here I go again, trying to blame someone again! 

"Sorry, Tae-sensei," I apologised, bowing as low as I could manage with my bruised ribs and other assorted injuries that decided to clamour for attention as soon as I moved awkwardly. I guess mother saw I was in pain, as she brushed past Tae brusquely, and slid gracefully over to me. Lightly resting one hand on my right hip, which was pretty bruised and knocked around in itself, she put one hand under my chin and looked me square in the eyes. 

"Little wolf," she murmured, half under her breath, her eyes gentle and warm and everything I always remembered them to be. I faintly registered an unhappy Mei Ling being forced to join the unwelcome committee by a gaggle of female cousins I didn't even want to remember I had. "I think your time in Japan is not destined to stretch out any further." 

I saw past the flowery words easily, but couldn't stop the hurt flashing into my eyes. Mother's face relaxed a little before steeling, and then I knew I was doomed. Once Li Yelan makes her mind up, her mind is made up. What could I do? I'm only fourteen, still a minor in the eyes of every government in the world. 

"I understand," I said, as levelly as I could manage given the situation. I honestly didn't care if I was broadcasting my thoughts so emotionally as before, because if they could make sense of them, then they were welcome to translate them to me. The incoherent jumble of _No, Sakura, Test, Failure_ ran in a mixed-up clutter around and around my head until I felt dizzy. Well, maybe the dizziness was from all the energy I used up.  
  
"You have failed in the task we set you, Li Xiao Lang," Tae intoned thunderously. My stomach churned from the formal words as my mother stepped regretfully away and Tae advanced, stomping the staff with every step he made. This was the formal admonishment as recorded in the journals. I felt absolutely wretched. My heart felt like a stone in my chest, and I was glad I hadn't eaten much recently (except for some candy floss from the fair) as my stomach was doing cagey flip-flips with the agility of a world gymnastics champion. 

"From now until your coming-of-age, you are bidden to stay only on Li soil. You will relinquish use of your magic until this time. You will continue your studies in order to become a leader from within." 

Tae's voice stayed on one level throughout the awful words. _Leader from within_. Huh. Nothing more than work and give the money to the household (not that I begrudged this at all!) and make a random decision every now and again as to what colour the toilet roll should be. 

But I deserved nothing less. Not only had I lost the Clow Cards from our family, I had… God, the list was absolutely endless. I was embarrassingly close to the new Card Mistress. Oh, sure, Sakura was to be revered in their eyes, but… she was to be respected, and nothing more. Association with a half-blood like her was supposedly unthinkable to any member of the Li clan, especially with a half-blood who had 'stolen' our heritage. I, of course, was scum because I couldn't reclaim the cards. I wanted to tell _them_ to argue with Keroberus, but this was what I deserved. Being sent to Coventry is the way the English put it. Being thought of as a failure to your whole family and consequently ignored and shunted aside and not talked to is the long-winded way of saying it. 

"We leave tomorrow morning." Mother broke in this time, her head held up high, her eyes sliding over me as if I was no-one, a nobody. "You will have no contact with anyone. You will come with us, and never speak of this place again."  
  
"I understand," I said, a little feebler this time, hoping they would attribute it to my lack of energy and not my despondency that this was happening. I walked forwards automatically, keeping my gaze averted from Tae as was custom, and managed to glimpse Mei Ling looking at me sadly before the world stumbled beneath my feet and quickly shifted into shadow. 

..... 

"Argh!" 

Okay, so maybe mornings aren't my best time of the day. In the past I have pretended that morning is my best time of day, merely to piss off Sakura as much as possible, but mornings. Ack. 

Mornings _while_ regaining own consciousness, double ack. 

Mornings _while_ regaining own consciousness _while_ remembering that I'll never be able to see Sakura ever ever ever again. Ack. Ack. Ack. Add some _crap_s in there, and it's close to the daze I'm feeling right now.

I looked around the room slowly. It was white, meaning a hotel of some kind, and I already noticed my bags neatly packed on the foot of the bed. They must have been dragged from Tomoyo's house sometime yesterday. I'd been dressed in a nightshirt, and I stumbled sleepily to my feet. I noticed an en-suite bathroom, so I managed to get over there to wash my face and brush my teeth before I lurched back over to the bed. Unzipping my bag, I pulled out the top items, obviously placed there to be handy. 

Shrugging off the nightshirt, I slipped into the clothes, not bothering with a shower. If my relatives were shipping me home in disgrace, I may as well go as dirty as the pig they think I am. Folding the nightshirt and laying it on top of the other clothes in the bag, I gratefully noticed the costume that Tomoyo had made for me amongst the clothes. I know it sounds pathetic, but having a little bit of my life in Japan with me… well, okay, yes, something to remember Sakura by… 

It was important. I resolved never, ever, to let that costume be washed or taken away from me. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not normally a sentimental guy, but… this I needed. Thinking your family is about to screw your whole life up is different to it actually happening. The only life I wanted was here. Ideally with Sakura, but then, I couldn't really ask for the impossible, could I? Just being in the same school as her would have been nice, even if we weren't allowed to talk… 

Who am I trying to kid? It must be the fainting spell talking, because I sure as hell know that these are stupid pipedreams. Impossible, even if I could get my clan to listen to them. This is the future they have decided for me, at least for the next four years… 

That was the only bright light on the horizon. They couldn't legally keep me past my eighteenth birthday, magically perhaps, but legally… I sighed heavily. But could I give up my responsibility to my family for some idea of freedom? 

It sounded easy in my head, but I doubt it's that simple when you get right down to it. 

There was a timid rap on my door, and a wavering female voice came through. "Syaoran, are you dressed yet?"

I knew Mei Ling was alone by the fact she used the Japanese form of my name. "Yes," I answered quickly, and Mei Ling quickly slipped the door open and slid in. She looked sombre in a traditional Mandarin outfit in a dark navy, and her hair was unnaturally pulled back into a tight, high ponytail. It made her look older, and sadder. 

"This is so bad," Mei Ling said, voicing my own thoughts. "A charm alerted us when you came to from your fainting spell. I wanted to sit with you until you woke up, but-"

I cut her off with a quick wave of my hand as I plonked my unsteady limbs down on the bed. "It's okay. I know the rules as well as you do. I just don't seem to be able to follow the majority of them." 

Mei Ling smothered a small laugh, which I suspected wasn't a laugh that contained much mirth at all. "Heh. Falling in love with the girl who 'stole' the grand Li clan heritage. Not the smartest move you've ever made, I'll admit." Mei Ling's voice sarcastically stretched the word stole, and it took me a long second to realise what she had said. 

"Falling in-" I said hurriedly, raking one hand through my hair, trying to make it as messy as possible. "I- I-" Wild, I stared at her. "I-" 

"Don't try and deny it, Syaoran," Mei Ling said softly, her dark eyes soft with concern. She put her hand on one of mine. "Being in Japan has taught you so many things. Do not be quick to dismiss these things when we're back in H.K. Having your emotions on hand isn't such a bad thing as they tried to teach us, you know."

"I-" I guess I wanted to try and deny what Mei Ling had said, but I was over denying the truth. "It wasn't very smart a move, was it?" I said ruefully. 

Mei Ling reached over and ruffled my hair, grinning impishly. "Nope. I'm glad you broke off our engagement though, Little Wolf." I let that one slide. "I could never be with someone who couldn't return my love." 

I smiled weakly at her. "Thank you for being so understanding." 

"What else am I supposed to be?" She thumped my shoulder clumsily, and I noticed the wetness in her eyes. I suppose it was the first time I ever let myself think how the whole thing had affected _her_. Mei Ling had made many friends in Japan, and had thought for much of her life that she _was_ going to marry me. She stood up to leave, and threw a casual look at me. "Be down in the vestibule in ten minutes. We leave in fifteen." 

I nodded wordlessly as she turned to properly leave. "Wait!" I looked up at her, pleadingly. "I- I'm sorry. You know, for… making them drag you away too. For breaking off the-" 

"I know. I'll heal, Xiao Lang. So will you, in time. If it's necessary." Mei Ling looked at me fiercely. "If I can do anything to help, swear you will ask me first. Okay?" 

I nodded again. "I swear." 

Mei Ling turned and didn't look back as she exited the room. I stared at her retreating back and then at the door, before putting the green slippers by the door on and shouldering the pack. Crossing over to the window, I pushed aside the curtains and let my gaze linger across the beautiful view. The sun was shining, making Tokyo gleam with it. I thought I could see Sakura's house, twinkling in the distance, but I couldn't be sure. Down on the street below, I could see cars lined up in front of the hotel, and one of my cousins chatting up one of the bellboys. Cherry blossom carpeted the path, in a thick blanket of the soft petals which reminded me so much of Sakura. Cherry blossoms by name, cherry blossoms by nature. 

_Sakura. I love you_. 

I willed the thought to cross the great divide between us. I willed time to stop, reverse, so I could let her know my feelings. I willed her to appear, to make this pain just go away, like it did whenever she was near. 

_'Sakura_.' I spoke her name silently, my breath ghosting into fog on the window, fixing my eyes on what I thought was her house, until the emotional pain in my chest grew too much and I flung myself away, storming out of the room and refusing to cry. 

I pressed the button for the lift and waited for it to come. When it arrived, there was a short man inside in a red uniform similar to the bellboy's uniform I saw from the window. He raised one eyebrow at me questioningly as I stepped into the lift, and I realised immediately that I didn't know exactly where I was going. "Um-" I said, rather eloquently. "I was told to- uh- go to the vestibule?" 

The man clucked impatiently. "You mean the ground floor, _sir_." His voice was patronising and he pressed the button to the ground floor with aplomb. I fidgeted, resisting the urge to run as soon as the lift hit the ground floor, try and find a back exit, escape my relatives and then… 

_And then _what_, Xiao Lang,_ I thought furiously to myself, _live your life as a fugitive? You'd be just as far away from Sakura as ever. This would be the first place they'd look, and you know it_. 

I knew it. I knew it so badly it physically hurt. 

The lift stopped, jerking to a halt, and I thanked the man as I quickly vacated it, walking as neutrally as I could over to where my sisters were standing. Fei Mei handed me my shoes, and their expressions were warm. I expect they were subdued because I was in disgrace, but their faces told me they cared. I quickly shucked off the slippers and put my own shoes on, being very careful not to look around. If I saw anyone I knew, I swear I was going to break down. 

"Are you ready to go?" 

I couldn't look up at the brisk male voice, and nodded curtly. I felt Fan Ren and Fuu Tei both gently squeeze my shoulder as they passed me, and I walked behind them outside. The mild cold of the outside hit me as we left the heady warmth of the hotel. Cherry blossoms breezed idly past my face, as if Japan was finding a final way to mock me, and I climbed into the taxi on the order of one of my cousins with a heavy heart. 

----- 

_Touya_

"I really, really, really love my job." 

I stared at Rikku, and she muffled her giggles with the back of one red sleeve. 

"Huh," I said, squinting at her. _Weirdo_. 

This was probably the dumbest job in the long line of part time jobs I've been handed by the agency. Turn up at the depot on Monday, they tell you where you're gonna spend _this_ week and off you go, happy as Larry, whoever the hell Larry is. Sometimes I wonder whether the jobs I'm assigned are part of a secret joke by the universe, as over the last couple of years Sakura has ended up visiting a lot of the places I've been working. Maybe it's part of this whole Clow Card deal she has going on. I partly lied before, letting them assume that Kaho had told me everything about what was going on. She had given me the barebones, and I'd watched Sakura as carefully as possible to put the rest of the jigsaw into order. I was actually a little hazy as to why Tomoyo insisted on the ridiculous costumes, but I think I get the gist of events. 

I knew, though, that Sakura would be at home all day, on account of her having a big exam next week in algebra, so there was no chance of there being a goofy or mysterious reason for me being here. 

Something tugged at my arm, and I rolled my eyes and stared balefully at the petite brunette in the red trouser suit next to me. Rikku had her hair tied up in meatballs with red ribbon, and was tapping a blue ballpoint pen on her clipboard in a quirky rhythm which somehow resembled the rhythm of _Rubber Ducky_. 

Hooooooookay. 

I've traded jobs which have ended up on some level as babysitting for Sakura to one with a crazy, crazy, insane person. 

"Toooooooooouuuya," Rikku whined. I stopped staring and merely shrugged. "Seriously. This has gotta be the best part time job ever. I mean, how many fourteen year olds to you expect to pass through here at once?" 

"Don't jinx it, Ri," I said, wrinkling my nose. "You watch, several grade 9 classes will walk through right now because you said those words." 

Rikku pulled down one lower eyelid with one finger and stuck her tongue out at me. "Grouchy-pants," she muttered in a loud stage whisper. "Just 'cause red isn't your colour…" 

"Insults _and _calling me grouchy-pants. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we've got ourselves a fourteen year old right here…" I smirked, and blew irritably at the dark strands of hair trying to cover my eyes. _I really have to get a hair cut_, I thought idly for the fiftieth time that day. 

"Na, na, na. I think we got ourselves two, over there." Rikku raised her eyebrows and gestured with her pen at the checking-in desk. I groaned inwardly.

"Oh, crap." I scowled. "Look, I'm going to go skulk over there. You deal with them, okay?"

"Family members, huh?" Rikku tilted her head on one side and looked up at me with questions fluttering in her blue eyes. I ignored her shameless attempt at getting me to spill, and started walking away.

"Call me if you need me," I said, tossing the words over my shoulder and crossing over to skulk outside one of the bookshops, resisting the urge to look back and check what the brat and his friend were up to now. 

----- 

_Rikku_

Trust Touya to creep off like that! Shirking off the small amount of work we actually do get! Sheeeesh. 

Quickly pushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear, I strode purposefully over to the large group of people within which I spotted a few likely candidates. One tall, very beautiful woman inclined her head towards me and smiled, and I don't know why, but somehow I instantly felt very peaceful. I smiled back, for once the expression genuine, and bowed.

"Hello, madam. My name is Aino Rikku, and I'm part of Revision Express, a line of revision papers and test exams for fourteen year olds taking their exams in Japan or China. If you have any fourteen year olds in your party, I would like to request five minutes of their time to fill in a questionnaire, you know, name, subjects studied, where they've studied, how they like it, what they'd like help on… and in return they will receive a full set of English, Maths and Science papers, no charge what-so-ever." 

The beautiful woman considered my words, and pushed forwards one of the girls I'd thought maybe a little older. She was wearing a very pretty blue outfit, and her hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail. "This is Mei Ling. I'm sure we can spare her for five minutes." 

Mei Ling smiled briefly at me, then looked questioningly at the woman. "Yelan-senpai. Can Xiao Lang come with me? If they need my last school's address, I am not sure of it…" 

I watched inquisitively as an old man of about sixty wearing very heavy ceremonial robes and carrying a heavy ornate staff frowned.

"He cannot get into trouble," the beautiful woman - Yelan, obviously - murmured to the old man, and the man nodded his head. _Yes! Consent! Brilliant!_

I nodded towards the red stand in the middle of the large room. "We can fill the forms in over there. Visible from every corner of this area." I added that last statement to calm the party down. Boy, it was a large party, and a lot of them looked remarkably similar. _Must be a large family or something_, I reflected. 

I walked over to the stand, beaming encouragingly at Mei Ling and the boy - Xiao Lang - and leant against the table. "Right, Mei Ling. You've got to-"

"That's not what I came over here for," Mei Ling said abruptly, startling me. Xiao Lang looked startled too, and he opened his mouth to speak, closing it after a sharp look from her. "You work with that boy over by the bookstore?" 

I nodded slowly, uncomprehending. "Yes, his name is-" 

"Kinomoto Touya," Mei Ling said briskly. "Look, we don't have much time. Syaoran here's being sent back to Hong Kong without being able to say goodbye to a.. very special person." I looked across at the boy to see him turn a very interesting shade of red. "The thing is, our family's very strict. This could be our only chance. You see, she's Touya's sister. I was wondering if Syaoran could write a note, and you could give it to Touya to give to Sakura." She looked at me pleadingly. "_Please_. You're our only hope."

I looked from her, to the boy, to the strict family, and then to Touya, lounging stiffly but alert by the bookstore. I looked back across at the family, and something about the old man with the staff's stiff expression helped me make a snap decision. I passed the clipboard over to Mei Ling first.

"Pretend you're filling in the details," I said, trying to make my mouth move as little as possible. "When you get to the last school address, pass it over. You, Syaoran, Xiao Lang, formulate what you want to write while Mei Ling is pretending to fill in the form."

"Thank you," the boy murmured, obviously trying to fight down the blush on his face so as to not look suspicious. Mei Ling took her time on the form, frowning and chewing on the end of the pen until she got a small nod from the boy.

"_Syaoran_," Mei Ling said, suddenly and loudly. I tried not to look too emotional. Being ripped away from your friend without being able to say goodbye is a very harsh thing to do to a fourteen year old. I didn't like his family very much, and normally I like everyone. "Your directions are stiff and confusing!" I wondered why her voice had increased in volume but realised it was in case any of their family was listening in. "Here." She pushed the clipboard and pen across to Syaoran, who instantly blushed again. He bent his head over the paper, scribbling furiously and handed the pen and pad back to Mei Ling hurriedly as if it was on fire. Mei Ling inhaled suddenly at the words, and quickly pretended to fill in the rest of the form. 

"Um," Syaoran said quickly, and I looked up. The old man was heading over here with a rather furious expression. I'd thought he looked mean before, now I thought he looked evil. I whipped the clipboard away from Mei Ling with a grin, and pushed two plastic bags full of the exam papers at her. Mei Ling took them. 

"Thank you. So much," she said, bowing low and speaking her words with true fervour.

"My pleasure. Revise well, now," I said politely. "Give the second set to whomever you want. Have a good journey now, sir," I finished, the last sentence directed to the old man. He glowered at me darkly, and ushered the two teenagers away, Syaoran a little firmer than Mei Ling. I watched quietly as the whole clan disappeared through the boarding gates, and I exhaled slowly. Picking up the clipboard, I looked slowly at the writing, and my breath caught in my throat. 

_Oh, poor kid, ripping him away from this…_ I was right; his family _was _evil. I felt tears prick at my eyes, and was startled by a large hand on my shoulder. 

"Are you all right?" Touya was all seriousness now, as he levelled a concerned glance at me. "The brat give you much cheek?" 

"N-no," I stammered. "He's being shipped off home, Touya, without letting him say goodbye to his friends or anything."

"What?" Touya's eyes went round. "I don't like him, but that's harsh. Sakura's going to be devastated… Couldn't he have given her message? Phoned her?"

"I don't think they let him. They sure look mean," I said. 

Touya shrugged. "They're rich, and powerful. Some people think that's an automatic passport to treating the rest of us like mud."

"Anyway. The girl - Mei Ling - explained it hurriedly to me, and I let the boy write a note on the form." I looked up at Touya tentatively. "They asked me to give it to you to give to your sister."

"The kid has some sense," Touya said briskly, taking the form as I offered it to him. I watched as he read the note, the letters getting more and more messy as they had been written. His face tightened, then relaxed, and he stared for a long second at the doors the boy and his family had disappeared through. "So they're practically kidnapping him…" His voice was soft, almost regretful as he folded up the form and put it in his pocket. 

"I think you should go," I said, the usual gaiety in my voice muffled to a solemn tone. "Go home. Give her this. She needs to know. I have no idea what the first two things mean, but the third…" I looked up at Touya, worried. "Go. I'll lie to our superiors." 

Touya looked at me, appreciation evident on his face. "Thanks, kid. I owe you one."

"Don't call me kid," I called as he set off on a jog towards the exit, before adjusting the next form on my clipboard and starting to look for my next victim. The front doors gaped open a few seconds after Touya had receded infinitely into the distance, and a huge group of ninth graders skipped through. 

I put my shoulders back, plastered a very fake smile on my face, and went to face the swarm of the little devils. 

----- 

_Sakura_

Grrrrrrr. I was getting more and more frustrated by the second. Tomoyo wasn't in, Mei Ling wasn't answering her mobile phone, and I couldn't get Syaoran on the communicator Tomoyo gave him from her mother's factory. The agency Touya works for said he was home sick, which confused the hell out of me, because I was home and he was not, so unless it was a new fangled invisible-sickness, confusion was all that was on the menu. Dad wasn't at the university, I called and asked the office, but was out to lunch. Out to lunch! Dad never goes out to lunch, unless it's a business lunch, and it isn't really the season for those. He normally has his business lunches in late July, when trying to secure funding for his work, not June. I even tried Chiharu's house, but she was at hospital, which was kind of bad because I had no way of getting there, Yukito's place, but his answer phone was on, and Naoko was out at the library. 

I know it sounds pathetic, but I really could have done with someone being in. None of the electricity was working, and I was cold, and tired, and hungry. The freezer was busy defrosting, along with quite a few ready meals and frozen meat and vegetables, and the TV was smoking in the corner. Who knew that TVs blew up when the electricity stopped working? I'd put the fire out with the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher Touya had brought home one day, having 'liberated' it from the college in protest at the number of computers they were taking away. 

Blindly stolen, really, but how many people are willing to protest against six-foot-three-inches of pure meanness A.K.A. Kinomoto Touya, my brother? 

I guess I was restless because I'd spent too much time in bed. Kero was still asleep, bless him, murmuring random things about chocolate and pie and cake and Suppi under his breath and snoring like a train on helium. I was still pretty tired, but my injuries were healing rapidly. I still couldn't quite get over the enormity of what had happened yesterday. I really needed to talk it through with someone who would understand, but I could hardly ask Yukito to become Yue again so soon, and Kero only talks about himself whenever there's been a battle for at least three days. 

I was suddenly struck by inspiration, and leant over the edge of the sofa to grab the phone again, from where I'd sullenly dropped it when learning no one was home. I thought furiously, and jabbed in Eriol's overseas number, remembering the extension this time. Last time I had tried to call Eriol, I'd ended up with Terada-sensei, and being horribly embarrassed. Thankfully he knows I'm one of the few students who wouldn't abuse the knowledge, so I promised I would always put in the extension number at the beginning. 

I listened into the phone, and got an engaged tone. "Grrrrrr," I said out-loud, the paralinguistic growl sounding flat in the small room. I glared evilly at the television again, wondering if our insurance covered acts of God, and was relieved when the bell went. 

Slamming the phone back into the cradle, I walked to the door as fast as my aching legs would let me. I wished I was better, and I could do some gymnastics or go blading or something. 

I opened the door to a breathless looking Touya, who sauntered past me as if I wasn't there, and a timid Tomoyo, who looked at me with a very intense expression. She was worried. Whatever it was, it was bad.

"Sakura," Touya said softly. 

"Wow, so you didn't have some invisible sickness," I commented in relief. Touya glanced at me, then glanced at the smoking remains of the TV and the used fire extinguisher.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" 

I winced, and Tomoyo looked worriedly at the mess. "The electric went wacky, and the TV exploded," I explained. "I've been trying to ring everyone on the mobile phone, but I couldn't get anywhere, and your work said you'd been sent home sick." 

Touya muttered something that sounded somewhat like '_God bless Rikku_' under his breath. Shaking his head slowly, he looked around our house slowly.

"Everything in the freezer's melting," I added, looking confusedly from Tomoyo to Touya. "And-" 

"That's not the main issue here," Tomoyo said, interrupting me. It startled me. Tomoyo is normally a quiet, introverted girl (unless you get her on a topic she loves - like clothes design - and then you can't shut her up) and rarely interrupts anyone.

"What's wrong?" I asked urgently.

"Maybe you'd better sit down," Touya said, phrasing the order politely as he used his hands to steer me fully into the sitting room and plant me in one of the armchairs.

"Touya, Tomoyo, tell me. What's going on?" I looked at them fiercely. "Is it dad? Is it about the cards? Has the town not fully reappeared? Is someone missing? Is-" 

"Syaoran's family have pulled him back to Hong Kong," Tomoyo said, interrupting my sharply again. Her voice was louder than usual, brisk, but full of melancholy. 

"They thought he was a failure, and have grounded him until he dies, from the best I could make of the situation," Touya said softly, looking at me with darkened eyes. "Not allowed to say goodbye. Most especially to you." 

I clasped a hand to my mouth, staring at them both hollowly. "But- but I need him! He, he, I can't look after the cards on my own, he- I- They don't know how useful and necessary he is! I've got to- I don't know, but I-" I was glad they'd told me to sit down. This was terrible! How could they take him away! Didn't they know how much he'd done??? Instantly I came up with a zillion plans, each crazier than the last. I could use Fly to get to Hong Kong, and kidnap him. I could use the Create card to make a copy of him to send in his place. I could I could I could… 

"Mei Ling managed to engineer a situation where he could scribble you a quick note," Touya continued, while Tomoyo moved quietly over to join me on the large armchair, putting one hand gently on my knee. I felt like crying. I felt like screaming. I wanted to read the note, however quickly it was written. "I've honestly debated whether or not to give it to you." 

I stared wildly at him, feeling as if someone had pulled the floor away and left me falling through the stars with no net to catch me, nothing to break my fall. I was touched by Touya's brutal honesty, knowing it was hurting him to potentially hurt me. "Please," I said briefly, holding out my hand. 

"He's a very brave kid," Touya said distractedly, fiddling in one of his pockets. He was wearing the bright red of one of those survey people that normally trawl the city centre, and I realised he must have come straight from work to tell me. He pulled out a piece of paper that looked like one of the questionnaires, and held it forwards timidly.

I took it, my heart beating a _rat-a-tat­ _rhythm against my rib cage, my vision swimming slightly. I got to my feet and cross over to the other side of the room, leaning against the door frame as I opened the paper. The floor swam away again, and the tears that had been threatening to fall all day started to dribble down my cheeks. I felt like a toddler, screwing up my face and clinging onto the note with my hand as if it was my very last Clow card or something… 

Warm arms suddenly wrapped themselves around my shoulders, and I leant into Touya's shoulder, my tears soaking his red jacket unashamedly. I wept for a few minutes, frantically thinking things like _ohgodohgodohgod_ and wishing I had had the courage to tell him… To tell him what I had barely had the courage to admit to myself. 

I pulled away from Touya eventually, scrubbing at my cheeks with my sleeve and looking hopelessly across to Tomoyo. She looked concerned.

"What did the note say?" Tomoyo asked gently, as if her words could break me. I sniffed loudly, and managed to sink onto the arm of one of the chairs, feeling Touya hover by my shoulder as if to catch me if I tumbled off. He must have read the note, else he wouldn't be so concerned for me.

I passed it over to her as if I was handing over my heart, and she took it tenderly, her fingers ghosting over the paper as she opened it. "To Sakura," she said lightly, reading the note out loud. I stared out the window as she spoke, knowing I needed to hear them said out loud, knowing I wouldn't believe them true unless I heard them like that. "I wish I had more time to write this. My family is forcing me back home as a failure. I have three important things to tell you that I wish I could say to you directly. 1) Test in 4 years. Kero will know. 2) Someone from my clan will be there, v. powerful, to make sure you fail." Tomoyo's voice faltered a little. "I suppose that means very powerful," she said, distractedly, before continuing to read the rest of the note. "3) I'm in love with you. Syaoran." Tomoyo folded the letter up again, and looked at me. "Oh, Sakura," she breathed. 

I took the letter back from her as she offered it to me again, and opened it to look at the scribbled writing, getting even more frantic and disorganised as it meandered down the page. There was a blot of ink after the "3)", as if he had hesitated slightly before writing it down. It had to be the truth, but _oh_, it couldn't be, it _couldn't _be… 

"Do you love him?" 

I looked up at Touya, shocked at the question, fully intending to deny it. I nodded, and he murmured my name before crushing me into another embrace. I let the tears flood again, faintly aware that I was murmuring '_Syaoran, Syaoran, I'm so sorry' _over and over again, but not caring. My whole world, the one that I had so barely saved yesterday morning, had flipped out from underneath me, and nothing could make it the same again. 

Nothing. 

---------------- 

**Reviewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!! Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with Yue on top?**


	3. Four Years Later

**~.~The Dreams We Left Behind ~.~**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky 

----- 

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, mostly on Syaoran's part. Based on the anime. 

---- 

**Last chapter: **Syaoran was forced back home to Hong Kong, but Mei Ling formed a quick plan to let Syaoran write a brief note to her, thanks to a very helpful workmate of Touya's. Tomoyo read out the note to Sakura… which mentioned a mysterious Test in 4 years time, a dangerous member of the Li clan coming to stop her, and that Syaoran was in love with Sakura…Sakura, devastated at the news and the note, admitted to a concerned Tomoyo and Touya that she was in love with Syaoran… 

----- 

**Chapter ****Three****- Four Years Later**

_ "Do you love him?" _

_I looked up at Touya, shocked at the question, fully intending to deny it. I nodded, and he murmured my name before crushing me into another embrace. I let the tears flood again, faintly aware that I was murmuring '_Syaoran, Syaoran, I'm so sorry_' over and over again, but not caring. My whole world, the one that I had so barely saved yesterday morning, had flipped out from underneath me, and nothing could make it the same again. _

_Nothing. _

----- 

**FOUR YEARS LATER**

----- 

_Sakura_

_Wham!_

"OWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

"Sakuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrra???" 

I rubbed my head, glowering resentfully at the alarm clock that had just fallen on my head. Grouchy, I sent an evil look through the carpet to the kitchen, which was where I thought my name emanated from. 

"Yes?" 

"You're going to be laaaaaate," Touya yelled back, sounding happy. 

"HOE??" I stumbled out of bed and landed with a crash on my knees. I didn't have to look up to know who was sniggering at me, and I staggered to my feet, forming my hand into a fist and waving it threateningly at Kero. Kero twitched back at me. 

"You don't have time to be mad at me," Kero said briskly, a smug grin on his round yellow face. 

I glared at him, but knew he was right. I thundered into the bathroom, starting up the shower so that the water could heat up while I brushed my teeth and tied my hair up. Showering quickly, using the coconut shower crème Tomoyo had brought back with her from her summer vacation trip to England, I cleaned myself briskly and hopped out of the shower, skidding on the wet floor. _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!!!!_ Wrapping a towel around myself, I ran into my bedroom, yanked my hair into a tight ponytail knowing it wasn't going to dry in time and not caring. The person who I would once upon a time probably have tried to impress wouldn't be there, so why should I try? 

Biting back that thought furiously, knowing I didn't have time to break down and think of Syaoran, I skidded through the familiar routine after slamming Kero shut into the drawer and covering up the keyhole with a post-it note. I ignored his usual whining, calling him a pervert as I pulled up black jeans over my underwear, tugged on a white t-shirt and rolled-neck red sweater and tumbled into the special trainers dad gave me for my birthday, that turned into roller blades when you flipped the bottom open. I grabbed my knapsack, shoved my mobile phone in from where it had lain charging all night, threw in the lit text I'd been reading last night, slid the Sakura cards into the special pocket Tomoyo had stitched in for me and manage to trip downstairs and into the kitchen at the right time. 

Touya looked at me from over a large pile of pancakes, taking in my hair and rolling his eyes. It was my first day as a senior, and being able to wear whatever clothes I liked was nice, but not new. The novelty wore off after a few months of Seijou High. 

I yanked back the chair, and took the plate Touya proffered me. "What's it feel like, to be in a proper nine-to-five job?" I asked Touya as I piled sauce on my pancakes. His new job had started yesterday, while school restarted today, on a Tuesday, to allow for a training day for the teachers. I scowled at Touya as he flickered another evil glance at the state of my hair, and I stared back at him before pulling it out and managing to pull my hair into a tight ponytail without too many stray strands, knowing full well Tomoyo would accost me at break and mess with it again.

"I still don't see why you couldn't keep your hair short," Touya snorted.

"You didn't answer my question," I said, while chewing on a mouthful of pancakes. "Guess having Yukito there too makes it a little easier, huh?" 

For some reason he blushed a little. "Uh. It's fine. We're going to look at some flats today, squirt, so if no one's home when you get back, don't be worried. You have your key?" 

I squinted, then nodded, remembering faintly that Touya said he and Yukito were going to find an apartment together closer to their workplace. Made sense, sharing rent, and I guessed they both wanted some independence. "Yeap. So pretty soon, it's gonna be me and dad, huh?"

"Yeah." Touya nodded. "Guess you're going to have to rely on Kero to get you up on time. Did you remember to-"

"Yeap. Post-it notes. More versatile than the company think they are."

Touya laughed. "I don't think they thought that covering up the keyhole to stop a tiny flying yellow bear perving on you will you got dressed was the original use for them, but whatever floats your boat." 

"I don't think he was actually perving on me," I defended, "it's just that-"

"Every time you got dressed, you freaked out," Touya finished. "Don't worry. You weren't the only one."

I smiled thankfully at him. "Thanks." I shoved a final pancake in my mouth, and picked my knapsack up again. "And thanks for breakfast." 

"Last time ever," Touya reminded me. "Have a good day at school." 

I waved vaguely at him as I left the house. Sitting down on the step, I flipped the wheels out and pushed myself off and away using the front door. Skating down the path, I sped around the corner, taking the adverse cambers and stones with the ease of a professional. I _should_ be a professional; I've been taking this route to school for the last four years. I know it's maybe silly, but it takes me past where Eriol's house used to be, and the airport, just in case… y'know. Just in case Syaoran's allowed back. 

I get it. I'm obsessed. He might not even feel the same way any more. He may never have felt the same way. The truth is, I did, even if it took me a while to acknowledge. I thought not seeing him, not being able to communicate with him again, might make the feelings go away, but… it hasn't worked out like I thought it would. Then again, my whole life hasn't worked out the way I thought it would. I don't suppose any normal eleven year old would dream that they were about to land upside down in a world they never knew existed before. 

The warning bell went as I made it through the school gates, and I put the wheels away as I pelted towards the West block. Pelting across the playground, I squeezed through the door and dashed up the stairs, wishing my hair was dryer. I slowed to a walk as I reached the second floor corridor, and pushed through the first door on the left. Tomoyo and Naoko smiled at me, and I walked over to my desk in relief. The bell went off at nine, to signal the start of school, and everyone stood to attention behind their desks as our new form teacher, Kaoko-sensei. She was very pretty, with very blue eyes and soft mousy brown hair. She looked barely young enough to be a teacher.

"Hello, class." Her voice was soft and light, making her sound younger than she looked. I exchanged an appraising glance with Tomoyo, and knew from her gentle expression that Tomoyo liked the look of our form tutor too. "My name is Kaoko Ami, and I will be your form tutor for your final year of school. When I call your name, stand up, so I can acquaint myself with all of you." 

I guess I didn't listen as intently as I should do, and had just enough sense to listen to my own name - "Kinomoto Sakura!" - and stand up for a few seconds. I didn't want to give my teacher a totally weird impression of me on the first day! She reached the end of the register - "Yoshii Iori!" - and then stared at the register, a little nonplussed. "Na, I almost forgot!" I grinned as Kaoko-sensei put the back of her hand to her forehead. "We have a new transfer student arriving today! Some time in the morning, I presume. You all know we're having all morning devoted to tutorial time, don't you?" We all nodded in unison. We'd been a fairly stable class for the last seven years, and routine does finally get the best of you. "Right. We'll sort you out with homework planners, and then I think we'll move onto lesson and room timetables and-" 

There was a polite knock on the door. Kaoko looked flustered for a second, and then her face flushed with recognition. "Seems our exchange student is here." She walked over to the door, and called out with a gay voice. "Come in!" 

The door opened, and my heart stopped beating for a second before starting up again with a ­_rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat_ rhythm that I hadn't felt for a long, long time. I edged a tentative look at Tomoyo, but her wide-eyed expression mirrored everything I felt. Everything I'd futilely dreamed over the last four years had just happened. 

"Students, I'd like to introduce you to our new exchange student. Li Syaoran." 

----- 

_Tomoyo_

Well, you could knock me over with a feather. You really, really could. I'm not normally a girl for clichés, but this situation demands about three billion of them. I know I stared. It was a little unexpected! Li, back… It couldn't be for a normal reason. 

I looked over to Sakura, and she looked just as shocked as I felt. No wonder! The guy she's in love with, casually dropping into school without a note or a word or anything.  
  
"He's come all the way from Hong Kong, so let's be nice to him!" Kaoko gestured at the last empty seat - right behind Sakura, naturally - and Li curtly nodded and walked over there, avoiding everyone's glances. Everyone in the classroom had a mixture of expressions; happiness, shock, but the ones that interested me the most was Sakura and Li's expressions. Li's face was absolutely blank, totally composed, except for when he passed by Sakura and sneered. Sakura seemed to look upset for one second, which didn't surprise me one bit, and then her entire demeanour changed. She was… I don't know another word for it… bristling. 

_Huh_. I tried to listen to Kaoko as she handed out timetables and forms and homework diaries, but I couldn't help but keep shooting small glances at Li and Sakura. Li was barely focussing on his timetables either, spending his time shooting calculating and cold looks at the back of Sakura's head. Something here was off. Very off.

The time crawled by slowly, just as it always does when you're dying for something to happen at a specific time. As soon as the bell rang to signal break, the boys rushed to crowd around Li, and I had a more familiar target in mind. I wandered over to Sakura's desk, keeping a wide circuit of the gaggle forming near the door, with Li centre.  
  
"How are you feeling?" I asked neutrally, keeping my voice to a whisper so no one overheard.

"Pretty damn angry," Sakura answered briskly, folding her arms over her chest. I mean, I've seen her at her most powerful, battling the Clow Cards and capturing them to prevent the evil that Clow Reed once predicted, but now she looked menacing.

"I'm not surprised," I said, trying to reassure her. "You'd have thought he might have managed to give you a note explaining this! Maybe there's a spy here, and he has to act nasty, or-" 

"Tomoyo." 

I blinked up at Sakura in surprise, as he quiet utterance of my name stopped me ranting incoherently.  
  
"That's not Syaoran. I don't know who it is, but it's not him." Her eyes glanced over to Li - to, if I was hearing her right, whoever it was that was masquerading as Li - and seemed to unfocus slightly. "His aura… it feels like a harsher but diluted form of Yelan's, but again… not the same. I think it's a family member, using his mother's power to resemble Syaoran, but it's not him. It's not." Her voice seemed to be firmer, more determined, the more she said it. 

"You think he's using a… a sort of glamour?" We'd covered glamour when doing old myths and magic legends of Japan last year.

"Or it's a controlled clone. Like a golem, or something." Sakura grinned slightly. "All we have to do now is water him."

I stifled a small giggle. "Great. Excuse me, clone-Li, would you stand still while we pour water on your head?" 

Sakura looked amused, but then went paler and withdrawn. I reached out and touched her hand.

"It means he's okay, Sakura," I said, nodding across at clone-Li. Okay, we didn't know for definite that it was a clone - maybe he'd been brainwashed! - but if Sakura thought so, I thought so too. "They've copied him as he must be now."

"I guess," she muttered softly. Sympathy welled up inside me, making my chest feel tight and heavy. 

"I'm sorry it's not him. But this… impostor, this clone-Li, we might be able to get out of him where the real Li is," I comforted.

Sakura started to nod, and then froze. "The test," she said, her voice a stiff formal monotone. "Syaoran wrote that there'd be a dangerous person sent from his clan to secure the cards." She gripped my arm so tightly I was sure it would leave bruises, but I didn't mind. What was a little support to the sorceress who was going to save the world? "That must be it." She looked up at the clock on the wall, and sighed. "Guess we'd better move back to our seats."

I nodded at her, trying to communicate all the sympathy I felt for her in that small gesture. She seemed to understand as she nodded briefly. I walked back to my desk, only for clone-Li to walk past me. He looked at me so coldly I felt a shiver course down my spine. Sakura was right. This was either a clone, or a glamour, or there was some serious brainwashing going on here. Whatever it was, Li wasn't behind those eyes that looked so coldly at me. "Daidouji," he muttered, briefly inclining his head. "Nice to meet you again." 

"Gaki," I returned, just as neutrally. "How _nice_ it is to meet you for the first time." 

His eyes flashed. "The cards will be ours," he said bitterly, not keeping up the pretence of being Li in front of me. "And if there is any justice in the world, your half-blood companion will perish along the way." 

He stormed away to his desk, flinging himself into the desk and staring into space. I exchanged a glance with Sakura, who looked a little terrified, and I turned back to the pile of timetables and books on my desk, feeling very empowered from what I had just said, but feeling terrified for Sakura's sake. Whatever the Li clan were attempting, they'd gone to an awful lot of trouble to see it done this way, probably to put Sakura off. 

I didn't know the reason, but the future was starting to look scarier than it ever had before. 

----- 

_Mei Ling_

"You're not trying! You're not trying hard enough!" I yelled. 

I raised my clenched fists and glared at my fatigued opponent. His polished oak-coloured eyes flashed at me as he tightened the bandage supporting his hands. I was hoping my words would egg him on. Goddess knows he was self-motivated enough, though. He launched himself at me again, managing to grab my wrist and overturn me. I landed with a _thump!_ on the mat of old coats we'd cobbled together four years ago and had reused every night since. He insisted that he had to know all I knew, and I taught it to him willingly. Love was always something you had to fight for. 

"Well done," I complimented, as Syaoran shifted forwards impatiently and helped me to my feet. I instantly twisted into the position for a spin kick, to send him flying, and he dodged and blocked it. I landed with a thump on the coats again. Looking up at him as he held my hand out, I was abruptly reminded of the fourteen year old Syaoran who had been banished from Japan in shame. He had kept his hair stubbornly the same, but his physique had changed from the training he forced himself through. Still lean and fast, he was strong too, agile and flexible as the situation demanded it. It was a pity about his magic being forbidden and stripped away, but he was trying to make up for it in other ways.

"Sorry," Syaoran said sheepishly, and I almost expected him to blush as he always used to. It was almost as if he'd disallowed himself from blushing, though, and he relied instead on tone of voice and posture. Stiff and formal around everyone but me, because I knew the truth. They only kept me around hoping I'd 'forgive him and take him back', using their words. They still wanted the marriage to go ahead. Never mind my feelings. Never mind Syaoran's feelings. 

"I think we've done enough for tonight," I said, holding up a hand as Syaoran's mouth dropped open to protest. "We have algebra tomorrow and we're going to have to work hard. Besides, you knock me down one more time and the others will suspect what we're up to."

Syaoran shuffled a little. "I think they already know."

"WHAT?" I stared furiously at him. "HOW?" 

"I don't know." His brow furrowed. "But my sisters asked mother why I bother to work so hard, and mother said it was because I want to become an efficient provider for the family. After university I will be able to get a top job and provide well for us."

"What do they want you to be? A doctor?" I dusted my knees and started to remove the padding I had had to start wearing two years ago, when Syaoran had become much stronger than my light frame could take.

"Worse than that." Syaoran smirked. "A lawyer."

I cringed and crossed my fingers at him, in the sign of warning away evil. "Crap," I said. "They want me to be a teacher." 

Syaoran lifted his eyebrows at me. "What, we study every day together under the _brilliant_ supervision of Adami-sensei, and you never saw fit to mention this?"

"You never mentioned the law thing," I defended, bending down and ignoring my protesting muscles as we started to refold the coats and hang them up again in the old closet. That _was_ a suspicious sign, really, that they knew what we did down here at nights, that they kept the old coats here and did not give them away to charity like they did the rest of our old clothes. I suppose they thought that it did me no harm to practise more, and if Syaoran wanted to take out his frustration in this way, what harm could it do him? At least he wasn't hurting the family. 

"I suppose I didn't. It's not like we get much chance to talk anyway." Syaoran leaned against the wall stiffly, after bundling the coats into the closet. "You have to be up at … six… to train?" 

I nodded dumbly at him. It used to be seven am, but now we were on the last year of high school level study and this year was to prepare us for the tests to enter university, they had arranged my day's timetable to give us another hour tuition. Joy. 

"I will meditate while you do so," Syaoran muttered, more out of ritual than anything. He still meditated. It was the first exercise he was taught to control and tap into his power. Even I was not sure why he still did it. I thought it was maybe because he wanted to start the day as he used to, to pretend that maybe he was back in Japan and he'd see Sakura at school. "I'll go running after tutorial today, I think."

I nodded again, and continued the almost nightly ritual. "I'll go and revise." 

"Also known as, hide manga in your textbook and relax," Syaoran teased.

I flushed. This was _not_ part of the ritual. "Gaki!" I fumed at him. "How did you know?" 

He looked sad for a moment. I wondered what I had said to make him upset. Syaoran looked away, bit his lip and had that look in his eyes. The one where you know he's trying to stare down the walls, stare down the miles in-between him and the girl - young woman now, I'm sure - that he's so crazily in love with. He blinked furiously and looked back at me, coming back to earth with a thud. _What an earth to come back to_, I thought glumly. "Do the words Sailor Moon? Super S? Volume 3? ring a bell?" he asked, pursing his lips together. 

"Ah," I said, flushing. "Oops."

"I shoved it in the pocket of your red coat," he said with a small smile as he turned for the door. "Good night, Mei Ling." 

"Good night, little wolf," I teased, ducking the book he threw at me and watching him saunter out. 

----- 

_Kero _

I knocked on the edge of the drawer. Surely Sakura could not be taking this long to get dressed! I could tell she was distraught over this whole Li clone thing. I couldn't sense the brat's aura anywhere in the country, so what Sakura thought is probably close to the truth. A clone, though. They're deliberately doing it to emotionally unsettle her, and that won't be good during the test. 

The test! Such a bad idea. I said so to my Master at the time, but did he listen? 

Nope. 

He was too wrapped up in his grief over Sun Fa, and Yue as usual went with whatever Master wanted. I'm sure there must have been a point - probably to show the current master of the Clow cards that it was time to appoint a successor. Four years was a cynical guess from a man made cynical by love, which is why I swore I would protect the next card Master from that evil as well as others. 

I don't suppose it's a thing you can really control, though, because I knew that Chinese brat was trouble as soon as I set eyes on him. Trouble with a capital T, R, O, U, B, L, and E. But maybe it would work in our favour this time. Sakura knew that this wasn't the Li boy, but an impostor, and would fight hard for the cards she loved. 

To be honest, I wasn't sure that the Test subroutine Clow Reed magically programmed into the cards would kick in, now they're Sakura cards, but it goes to show some magic is too innate to be changed. It was a characteristic of the cards now, and irremovable. I know Sakura is strong enough to recapture the cards that are now her friends. I wouldn't have chosen her to be the next Master - or, in this case, Mistress - if I wasn't a hundred per cent sure of her. When I saw Sakura, when I first re-awoke, I saw so much potential for brilliance it made the choice easier than I thought. She hasn't let Yue or me down yet even with Clow Reed's reincarnation testing her too, or the Li clan bothering her and stopping her doing her assigned task. 

The minute the Li clan realised the cards were under the guidance of Yue and I, and we would not allow someone we hadn't chosen to look after the cards to capture them, and the cards were NOT destined to be theirs just because of a little thing called DNA, would be a very brilliant minute to experience. 

I wasn't holding my breath, though. 

Besides, we'd converted one, possibly two. That was enough for my ego, and if something's enough for _my _ego, it's a pretty darn huge thing. 

"Sakuuuuuuuuuuura!" 

"Did you hear that?" I heard another voice say. Ooooops. Boy, her dad sure is quiet… or… I knocked on the drawer the same time he knocked on the door. Double ooooops.

"Naaaniii… No, I didn't," Sakura quickly covered. "Uh, what did it sound like?"

"Someone saying your name, but it was all high-pitched and… never mind." I could almost hear her father shake his head. "What do you want for dinner tonight, kiddo? Just the two of us, now." He sounded sad. Sakura had proudly informed me that Yukito and Touya had managed to find a small student-type flat near their workplace, and thankfully it wasn't too far away, in case of emergency.

"Uh-" Sakura stopped to think, but they were both distracted by a clattering noise downstairs.

"Dad? Sakura? It's me, Touyyyyyyyyyaaaaa." 

I couldn't quite see, due to the yellow paper covering the keyhole (what's up with that, anyway?) but knew she and her father would be exchanging a very wry glance. I should have expected it. The test's tonight, Yue will want to be here for when it happens. 

"Spoke too soon," Fujitaka commented dryly. "I expect their electricity won't be turned on until tomorrow, or something. You finished getting changed, I'll go see what they want. We can have some Chinese takeout tomorrow night."

Sakura giggled as her dad ruffled her hair and left the room. As soon as he'd gone, I started banging on the drawer again. "Let me out! Let me out!" 

I heard Sakura groan gruffly, and she yanked the drawer open while pulling a lilac hooded sweatshirt over a plain white t-shirt. Sakura always dressed nondescript for the tasks ahead, knowing that Tomoyo would want her to change into a battle costume later. 

----- 

_Sakura_

"I don't see why he had to come along," Kero said, grouching about Touya. I couldn't blame Kero for getting ratty. Touya was tagging along, muttering something to Yukito under his breath. I caught the words '_I'm sure' _and '_always'_ from Touya, but couldn't hear what Yukito was saying. 

"He's just looking out for Sakura," Tomoyo said reasonably. "It's sweet." I looked at my best friend archly, and Tomoyo stared back flatly as we continued in our strange procession to KP Park. "Plus, Kinomoto-san may have gotten curious. Saying you wanted to walk me home and we could have sundaes at my house was a brilliant excuse." 

I squinted unsurely at her. "I guess. Although your explanation of turning up on the doorstep with this costume was a little weird." 

Tomoyo flushed and I allowed myself a small grin. Dad would be teasing her for it for _months_. 

("_She takes her clothes for walks to smell of the night breeze, Sakura?" Sakura's father laughed in that warm, kind way that made Sakura feel absolutely protected. _

_"I guess so, dad."_) 

I thought back on the memory fondly, and then looked down at the outfit I had changed into in the public toilets on 4th street. The hooded v-necked tunic was made of a light, pink material that flared at the sleeves, making me feel I had wings and ended mid-thigh. It had a dusky pink pattern on it of falling cherry blossom. Beneath that hot pink calf-length trousers made of a scrunchy, soft material made me feel warm, and the thick banded pink leather sandals were quite comfortable. Tomoyo said they were padded and cushioned to make it easier for me to run. The cards were in a secure holder by my side. Arm length pink gloves kept my hands and arms warm in the biting cold of the evening, and to finish it off there was an optional mask hanging on my neck above the key, so if I wanted to do any 'business' (the codeword Tomoyo and I had thought up to refer to anything that referred to the cards) and not run the risk of being discovered, I could. The material was nice, but very easy to clean. I suspect that maybe Tomoyo has started to run out of ideas, and has designed this to be my official Card Mistress uniform. And you know what? It couldn't be more kick-ass. 

Ahead, the KP Park stretched to eternity, glimmering with the uncertainty of the night. The moon flittered overhead like a butterfly before drenching the clearing with its unearthly luminance, the clouds skimming away with an unfelt breeze to leave the sky clear and burning. Purple light decorated the sky like scars, showing the universe's blood. Something thrilled inside me, made me felt something I've never felt before. I felt dizzy, hollow, like I was everything and nothing within a single instant or all eternity. It was like fifty years of being without Syaoran in one second, yet it was like a single glance from him. 

I stumbled slightly, and Tomoyo and Touya both rushed to my side. I held up one hand to stop them from grabbing me. "No, I'm okay. This night… it's just…" A sick feeling crunched in my stomach, and I looked straight forwards immediately. A dark figure stood on the opposite side of the clearing. Pure malevolence whipped around me, tossing my hair and the darkness hurt my eyes like bright light. 

I felt my vision blur a little, and then realised it was only Kero and Yukito, becoming Keroberus and Yue beside me. Yue looked at Touya for a second sadly, only to look confused. I flickered a glance at Touya, who was looking at Yue patiently and with an intense look of… well, friendship, I guess. The look he always has when he's looking at Yukito, anyway. I guess Touya's just trying to show the lunar card guardian that he likes him, all of him. 

I heard Tomoyo's camera whir back into action, and something spurred me forwards. I slid the cards out of the holder, knowing Yue and Keroberus were flanking me. They shivered under my touch, and I stopped. The figure facing us coldly stepped forwards, and moonlight illuminated the face. I knew every angle, and yet I didn't. Syaoran's face looked out at me, harsh and judgemental, but his eyes were flat and emotionless. Even when I first met Syaoran, his eyes had emotion. This clone!Li, as I was calling him in my head, was dressed similarly to the way he used to dress to capture cards, but all that was green was now black, and all that was yellow was now white, except his trousers which were black. There was grey where the red had once been. This was an emotionless, colourless, two dimensional Li, and I couldn't believe for one second that Syaoran would let _anyone_ do anything like this to him. 

"_It is time_." 

A male voice echoed out of nowhere, and the cards buzzed in my hands as I recognised the voice. Clow Reed. Not his reincarnation, but an echo of his real, original voice. I swallowed, and said the words I'd been planning to say. "You're all my friends, all of you, but I know you have to do this. I love you all, and I want you to have the strongest Master for you. You'll always be my friends, and I hope to prove to you that I am still worthy to be your friend in return."

The cards spun around my head, fanning out into a halo of 53 cards. Pink and gold shimmered around my head. "This was Clow Reed's original intention," I finished, my head upright. "If you wish to follow his intention, leave, if not, stay. Either way I will still feel the same about you."  
  
Light surrounded my head, hard and brilliant, and I kept my eyes open but unfocussed. I could hardly bear to see my friends, to see _part of me_, fly away into the air, ready for me to try and recapture. _Like Syaoran_, something in me said brokenly. Hope soared in my heart and I let my gaze open. Nestled in my palm were eight cards. _The Light, The Dark, The Shadow, The Flower, The Lock, The Fly, The Sleep and The Hope_. They shimmered slightly, feeling warm in my palm. 

"So, Kinomoto. Eight stayed with you." I looked upwards, hurting at Syaoran's voice being used this way, so bitter and hurtful. "Even they will be mine, in the end. As they were always meant to be." 

I glared back, strengthened by the Sakura cards that had stayed with me. "Always, huh? Guess you've decided to ignore your ancestor's two best friends? They chose me. I'm the Card Mistress, and I _will_ regain all of my friends. You will regret trying to choose that form to affect me emotionally, because it will not work. And _when _I get the cards back, I think we'll have a little talk about where the real Li Syaoran is." 

Clone!Li glared at me furiously, then turned and dashed away into the night. I could feel the anger blaze off him, red and angry, and I turned back to Keroberus, Yue, Touya and Tomoyo. I held up the eight cards and looked at them fondly. "I'll get your friends back. I promise." They floated out of my hand, and my stomach dropped a few inches as I suddenly doubted and thought they too would fly off into the night, ready for me to take the Test to regain them. Instead, they bobbed up and down in the air, as if to agree with me and thank me, before flying gently back to my side. I felt tears prick my eyes at the warmth I felt in their loyalty, and turned and looked into the long dark that Clone!Li had fled into. 

"I'll get them back," I swore again, my words flinging stiffly out into the harshness of the night air, reverberating around the park. "I promise." I clenched my left fist, and rested my right hand on the cards. "I promise." 

------------- 

**Review please!! ****Your lovely words help me write faster.**

**PLEASE?**

**PRETTY PLEASE?**

***sighs* Okay, okay, y'all win, y'all win.**

**PRETTY PLEASE WITH SYAORAN ON TOP????????**

(I just don't know how happy Sakura would be with me now I've promised that... ..)


	4. A Major Discovery

**~.~The Dreams We Left Behind ~.~**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky 

----- 

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, mostly on Syaoran's part. Based on the anime. Warning: Includes genuine-ish maths lesson. ^^;; 

---- 

**Last chapter: **Four years after Syaoran is forced to leave Japan, a new transfer student - "Li Syaoran" - joins Sakura and Tomoyo's class... but Sakura senses that it isn't the real Syaoran, and is only a clone... Meanwhile, Mei Ling is training Syaoran in secret. At the end of the chapter, the Test begins, but Sakura is left with eight of the cards who have been affected by her the most...

----- 

**Chapter ****Four - A Major Discovery**

_"I'll get them back," I swore again, my words flinging stiffly out into the harshness of the night air, reverberating around the park. "I promise." I clenched my left fist, and rested my right hand on the cards. "I promise." _

----- 

_Syaoran_

I know it's wrong to hate your family, but _gods _I can't help it this time. I've been trained all my life to respect my elders, most especially the clan leader, but I seem to have an aptitude for breaking the most obvious rules. Last time it was _don't fall in love with the girl stealing our heritage_, and this time it's _don't hate your Uncle Tae, he was only following clan lore to send you away from Japan in disgrace, it's also not his fault he resembles a potbellied pig who has digested way too many disgusting Western dairy products and brings out the absolute worse in you..._

Both rules are kind of unspoken, but I've broken number one in the worst possible way, and the second... Well, if it _was_ spoken, at least in the particular way I would want to phrase it, it would be classed as instantly broken.

"The Maze card. I'm particularly interested in the Maze card."

His voice reminds me of someone too... Genghis Khan, perhaps? I keep my eyes level on the floor and resist the urge to snort out loud, grateful it is only my mother who knows for the majority of the time what I'm thinking.

"It returns to its original form, a swirling mist, when the person trapped in it finds the exit. You cannot use any other card to help solve the maze. Sometimes it is a 2 dimensional maze, often a 3 dimensional, and - when feeling particularly threatened - a 4 dimensional hideously constructed maze, proving the current Mathematical theory that there is a fourth spatial dimension." I try to keep my voice level, professional, to try and show that at least my training and dedication to learning was not at fault. I still do not see why I have to do this, but mother commanded me, and I have to do as she says. I am assuming it is for the records, or to perhaps further emphasise my myriad failures.

Genghis Khan snorted at me. _Pig_, I thought, miserable. 

"How did Kinomoto secure the card?" His voice his brisk. He should _know_ this, I wrote and told mother as soon as it happened.

"A woman named Kaho used a relic called the moon bell, imbued with power from Clow Reed himself. She rang the bell, and the walls were destroyed, but the power of the bell was lost in the Final Judgement. Kaho-san received the card, as it was her power that enabled us to reach the entrance, but she gave it to Sa-Kinomoto." I kept my gaze level, hoping he didn't notice my almost-slip at mentioning Sakura's name.

"Why did she give it to Kinomoto?"

_And not me?_ I silently added to the end of the question. "Kaho is a close friend of Hiirigizawa Eriol, the half reincarnation of Clow Reed. I assume he instructed her to aid the girl his guardian beasts had chosen as the new master."

"Or because she had more cards than you at the time," he commented gruffly. I could imagine his expression, eyebrows slanted upwards, thin lips pressed together, His face sagging and puffing with barely suppressed anger towards me.

"Perhaps," I replied quietly.

"The Dash card." I could hear papers rustling. "These notes say _you_ caught it."

I nodded. "I did. Only because a girl, Jessie, found the Dash card and it was helping her win races... Kinomoto was soft, and waited, and I managed to capture Dash while in a slightly weakened form."

"But she still ended up with it?"

I tried to be still, but my hands trembled in my lap. "I gave the cards I had captured to her, because split up the cards are useless. The only chance I had of gaining all the cards was if she had a chance at the final judgement and failed. Then the cards would be up again for the taking. But Kinomoto was the one who opened the seal. She was chosen by Keroberus and Yue, and I had to respect the decision of those stronger than me."

Okay, some small lies may have scrambled in there, but it was enough for Mr. Reincarnation of Genghis Khan himself, a.k.a. Uncle Tae. I gave the cards to Sakura because she was the one, I knew it in my heart. She had more power than any of my clan could ever hope of amassing, even if we- if _they_ - all joined together. Those moments when I remember I'll never have magic again are tough.

I raised my gaze off the floor to see Tae scribbling down notes furiously, and my heart thumped a little irregularly. What if... this wasn't to record my failure? When he came to exile me from Japan, he was ordered and precise, but this recording was being done with passion...

A thousand fragments of overheard conversations and my own instincts slammed together into a complete jigsaw. _The test... _The test that I had warned Sakura about would be going on now... Someone from the clan must be over there, to try and capture the cards. I felt my hands turning into fists on their own, and I forced myself to relax. Everything was starting to make complete sense. Mother's increased tiredness must be because she is siphoning some of her own power to whomever is attempting to capture the cards. Tae was questioning me to find out _how to _capture the cards.

"Now. The arrow card."

My insides froze. I gulped unsteadily, and my skin felt hot and prickly. Forcing myself to cough roughly, I assumed what I hoped was a dismal expression of discomfort. "Could I have some water, please? My throat is starting to close up."

Tae eagerly swept to his feet, and it seemed to confirm my suspicions. "Of course." He strode to the door, in a flurry of crimson fabric, and tried to calm myself down. He would only be so swift if he needed me to talk. I resolved quickly to lie as much as I could without arising suspicion as he called for Wei to bring cold water.  
  
"While we're waiting... The arrow card?"

"Kinomoto used the Fly to avoid the arrows, the Thunder to knock it backwards, and captured it," I said, as composedly as I could manage, not wanting to admit that _I _had repelled it with an elemental attack. He nodded. I emptied my mind, and thought of Sakura, willing her to hear to my thoughts. _I hope you're okay, Sakura. You'll win the test, I know it. I just know it. You'll win, because..._

I looked across at the stern figure jotting down notes and looking at me with dark, beady eyes.

_Because you're Sakura_.

-----

_Mei Ling_

"So you think he's quizzing you to help this person whomever he or she is to capture the cards?" I stopped attacking Syaoran momentarily, which I found out was a bad idea when he didn't stop defending and managed to use his elbow to smack me into the pile of coats again.  
  
"I do."

His voice was quiet, subdued, and his eyes were like the moment before a storm strikes beneath his tousled shock of chestnut hair. I bowed slightly at him to indicate I was momentarily leaving the training, and felt his serious eyes on me as I padded over to the edge of the room.

"I've been trying to... change it a little." His voice sounded troubled, and I watched his face as I reached for the satchel I'd hidden down here last week. His eyebrows were close together. He was obviously finding it hard to lie. Syaoran has never been that good at lying, however well he manages to hide his emotions to everyone. Well, of course, everyone but _me_. I felt the object I'd been searching for, cold and smooth beneath my fingers, and lifted it out. I'd been meaning to test this theory I'd had brewing in my mind for the last four years, but I had only managed - with Wei's help - to smuggle it into the house a month ago, and it has taken a month to get it down here and set up a few charms to muffle the magical aura it gives off. If I get found with it, it would mean expulsion from the family. But there's something I _have_ to test, and if it comes out how I suspect, then... The risk is worth it.

"Li Syaoran. Lying to his elders." I whistled. "I'm impressed. Stand back a little. I got a new training toy today."

His eyes brightened hopefully, and I didn't tell him I'd had to save all my pocket money for the last four years to even afford it. "What does it do?" I felt a smirk cross my face.

"Wait and see, little wolf."

"I thought I asked you not to call me that," he said, his gaze lingering doubtfully on the perfect sphere I had clasped in my hands. I stared flatly at him for a long minute, unnerving him. He'd shifted into a defensive position instantly, which was just one of the small things that had accumulated over the years to convince me that I'm going to get a positive response from this test. Instincts. Against magical objects. He still had them by the bucket-load. And even if this test proves negative, which I very much doubt, they'll be a great help in the tasks that are to follow.

"Asked? More like, slammed me against a wall, waved your sword in my face and said that if I ever called you that again you'd truss me up, stick an apple in my mouth and give me to Wei to cook for dinner."

I stared as he did the last thing I'd ever expected from him. He started to laugh, choking it back with the palm of one hand. I guess staring was a bad idea, because he stopped, wide-eyed, and looked at me nervously. Like he'd been caught doing something _wrong_.

It's never really hit me this much before. What our clan has been doing to him, I mean. Grounded permanently, interrogated so much, treated so stringently, kept apart from the one person that ever made him really happy, restricted and condemned at every turn... so much that he thinks being happy is _wrong_.

I felt my blood boil, and angrily I extended my right hand forward. The sphere glinted perilously in my right hand. _Please let me be right. If I'm right, we're going to smack down some dumb asses that did this to him..._ Gritting my teeth, I said the incantation. "_Wind-flower, I summon thee. Bring thy wrath to the one with the most strength, let the rainbow reveal the truth. I charge this, so mote it be."_

The sphere glowed brilliantly, shooting orange rays through my fingers. Searing heat clouded my vision, and I felt my knees crumble beneath me. I faintly heard Syaoran blurt my name, but the lancing pain of the sphere caused me to drop it. Shielding my eyes, I fell backwards and managed to glance upwards in time to see the sphere careen at Syaoran, blazing a fierce blue colour.

"Yes!" I exclaimed loudly, punching the air with my left hand clenched into a fist. Syaoran's eyes widened and he neatly executed a shoulder roll to the right, lashing out with one of his legs as he landed. The sphere smacked away from his foot, but before it hit the wall it curved and headed straight back to Syaoran.

"Mei Ling, what the hell-!" Syaoran spun, dodged and twisted out of the way, dropping into his favourite defensive stance again. I cursed inwardly. _Attack it, you damn stubborn git_, I thought furiously, the triumph of the answer running through my veins.  
_  
_He somersaulted through the air to avoid another lurching advance from the sphere, now flooding the room with a purple light, and finally dodged into an attacking stance. Letting out a short yell, _a war cry!_, he charged at it, smacking it with his hands, feet, elbow, hands again, feet... His limbs were a blur as the sphere met each attack. The sphere changed colour alternately, skimming through the colours of the rainbow, with a rhythm that matched the repetitive cry of _yes! I was right! _in my heart. Finally Syaoran pitched his whole weight into one last horizontal sweep, and the sphere slammed into the wall, shattering into a thousand pieces.

Syaoran instantly turned to me, his eyes blazing in a fury. "Mei Ling! What in the-"

"It was a test." I tried to smile wanly at him, but he wasn't having any of it. His face changed like clouds moving across a stormy sky.

"Tests don't normally attack people," he fumed, glancing across at the now-clear shards of the sphere. I was quickly grateful for the sound-suppressing charms we'd been smuggling into the room since we'd started. He put his head to one side thoughtfully. "So, did I pass?"

"Huh?" Confused, I scrambled to my feet. "What?"

"You said it was a test," Syaoran said briskly. "Did I pass it?"

A long smile crept onto my face. "With flying colours," I quipped. Syaoran groaned. I swept out of there before he could answer any more questions. I knew he'd want answers, but I... I had some planning to do before I could answer them.

-----

_Tomoyo_

"This is not good! This is not good!"

"Calm down," I said, as reasonably as I could, given the situation. "You can't even tell it's you from the photograph."

Sakura turned to me, eyes widened with horror and disbelief. She shook the newspaper in my face. "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS AT ALL?" Breathing heavily, she collapsed on my bed in an inelegant heap, limbs in a pile as she tried to calm herself down. Eventually she looked up apologetically at me. "You're right. You can't tell who it is." Staring forlornly at the article, Sakura scratched her head. "It's just a little weird, you know? I mean, before... There were only small rumours of children running around at night creating trouble. Eriol stopped people being around when I was changing the cards into Sakura cards, and now..." Her hands shook, rustling the paper. "It's gonna be hard. Trying to recapture the cards when people will know what's happening."

I moved over to her side, sitting on the bed and patting her shoulder. I took the paper out of her hands, and she collapsed onto me, hiding her face on my shoulder as she cried. I patted her arm awkwardly, scanning over the article again. "At least some have figured out you're the 'good' guy," I soothed as Sakura lifted her head, her face red with anguish. I haven't seen her cry since the day Syaoran left, and thank god this isn't as bad as that time! "Really." I quickly glanced at the picture. Sakura, standing with the Star staff, her face and hair covered by the hood and mask of the costume I made her, battling the Watery card. Clone!Li stood off to the side, eyes blazing, and thankfully his face was covered too.

I coughed, and noticed my TV blaring the same picture, muted in the corner. I fumbled for the remote and put the volume out. The reporter's edged voice filled my large room . 

"There are many things in this world we've never been able to explain, but right here in the Tomoeda district, proof of actual magic has been finally revealed. Last night, these two teenagers were spotted and photographed by local Junior high teacher, Terada Sanomi."

I felt Sakura still, and I turned to look at her gently. Panic was frozen on her delicate, elfin features. I trembled inside for her, and turned back to the TV.

"The sorceress in pink was using a staff with a star on the end to control the wind," Terada-sensei was saying. "She was trying to protect the wildlife. The boy was attacking her with his sword. It was awful. She was clearly trying to capture the evil spirits, while the boy was trying to stop her from doing so!" 

The reporter fizzled back onscreen. "The mysterious masked sorceress in pink is assumed to be the Card Mistress of Chinese and Japanese legend. Fifty-two cards were thought to have been created, to help protect the world from an ancient evil. I turn to Tsukishiro Yukito, a local history student, who is currently researching ancient Asian myths, for more information." 

Yukito filled the screen, confident and friendly. "The Card Master, or Mistress, is the one fated to wield the power of the 52 cards in defence of our whole world. Clow Reed was a powerful magician from Hong Kong a thousand years ago, where magic was generally more accepted. It doesn't make it fake, though. It's very real. Records from thousands of years ago up to the current day support this." 

"His professor, Hikomi Hake from Tomoeda University, agrees."

A man with a mustachio shaped like a crescent moon popped up onscreen, sat next to Yukito, and I faintly recognised him. "Magic is throughout history. Scientists have always tried to pretend it doesn't, because they can't explain it, and the reason they can't explain it is because it is tied to human emotion, and what is scientific about that?" 

"The mayor and police chief of Tomoeda have issued this warning." 

"A citywide curfew has been called. All civilians must be inside their houses by 9pm. I repeat, 9pm. We are calling for the Card Mistress to come forward, and supply us with more detailed information about the threat to the city. In the interim, we ask all who see any signs of magic to call the police straightaway. We do have information that supports the evidence gathered last night. The Card Mistress has therefore been designated as Protector of the State, and the curfew is the only city law that will not apply to her. We ask you all not to panic. She has been protecting the city for the last four years, and we are convinced she will continue to do so. Do not panic. The situation is firmly under control."

The screen switched back to the reporter. I could feel Sakura's nails digging into my arm, but I didn't have the heart to get her to move her hand. If this was the least I could do for Sakura, than I was doing it, no matter how much blood she clawed from me in these dark hours. "As for the dark masked man, he has been added to the citywide Wanted list. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts will be rewarded. Again, I have been asked to repeat the mayor's request. Do not panic, stores do not need to be gathered in, and citywide curfew is set at 9pm. Keep your minds open, and let our council approved state protectors do their jobs. More news as soon as we get it."

The screen went back to the normal news montage of a clock, although Sakura's photo still filled one corner of the screen. I hit the standby button and turned to her. "Come on, Sakura, cheer up. You're a _Protector of the State._ I'm sure they'll understand."

Sakura turned to me, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I- I- I'll go tomorrow."

"Why don't you ask Yue to come along with you?" I suggested. "Clow Reed's power will have been known to the government, Sakura. They're not going to capture you and dissect you. I'm pretty sure they won't even ask you your name."

Sakura's eyes widened. "D-d-dissect me?"

"Nnnnnhhhhh..." A large sweatdrop threatened to fall. _Crap! I forgot she hates anything like that being mentioned..._ "Uh. So. How many cards are there left to capture?"

With most people, changing the subject so rapidly usually doesn't work, but when Sakura's in this state she's easy to manhandle. _Good thing I'm a friend_, I thought dismally. "There's twenty-one left," she said softly. "And he has eleven."

There was absolutely no need to ask who 'he' was. "That means you still have twenty-one," I said, comforting. "That's the majority. And you have the experience, too."

"But Clone!Li has experience of Chinese magic," Sakura said, dejectedly. "Experience I don't have."

"Experience, shmerience!" I declared, fed up. Sakura looked at me as if I'd gone completely barmy. Which I'm not excluding as a possibility. "I'm fed up of you and your whining!"

Sakura stuttered, turning red and looking as if she was going to cry again. "Tomoyo!" She blurted, horrified at my reaction.

"Well, I am!" I said, getting to my feet and staring down at her like some terrible, avenging angel. "Experience! You had no knowledge of the Clow cards when Kero chose you as their new Mistress, and now- You're the most powerful sorceress in the world! Kero and Yue trust you with their lives. You _will_ win. Because of who you are."

"And who am I, Tomoyo?" She turned her gaze to me, and I smiled.

"You're Sakura."

"That's a crap answer, and you know it," Sakura grumbled, but there was no sign of tears in her eyes now and she didn't automatically go for that newspaper article declaring she was the spawn of Beelzebub.

"You know, I think Syaoran had too much influence on you, missy," I chided, knowing the Sakura of two minutes ago would have probably socked me one with the Firey card.

"Oh really, Miss Daidouji?"

"Nnngg."

Um. Maybe I deserved the pillow. I bent down, picked it up, and declared pillow war against the Card Mistress.

-----

_Syaoran_

I guess you have to be born with a particular voice in able to be a teacher. Mei Ling doesn't have that voice. I suppose that's why I've never thought of her becoming a teacher in the future. Aino-sensei has the right kind of voice. Kindly, but boring when talking about maths. Huh. Maybe it's the subject that affects the voice.

"The first numbers which you meet when a child are _counting numbers_. One, two, three, four, et cetera. Zero also creeps in there eventually. When zero is included, the resulting set is known as _natural numbers_, and is denoted by..." Aino-sensei stopped, flustered, and started searching for the pen he'd put behind his ears ten minutes ago. After a minute of flapping around like a scalded chicken on crack, while I shared an amused glance with Mei Ling, he located the pen and scrawled an N on the board, with two lines for the diagonal line.

He coughed in his embarrassment, and continued. "If you include negative numbers, this set of numbers is known as _integers. _Integers are donated by this sign." He scrawled up a Z, and doubled the number of lines at the diagonal again. "Thus integers are all the whole numbers, positive _and_ negative, and also include zero. The counting numbers I mentioned originally can be denoted by..." He scribbled the Z symbol again, and added a positive sign to the top right hand corner. "This symbol."

He coughed again, and started to fidget. I shared another knowing glance with Mei Ling, who smirked at me. _He needs the toilet_, I know we were thinking in unison. Not a nice thought, really, to think in unison, but it was the truth.

"Uh, Syaoran, Mei Ling. I trust you two to behave yourself when I, ah-"

"-go see a man about a dog?" Mei Ling suggested innocently, referring back to the first lesson when he had used that euphemism.

Aino coughed again. "Sure. _Behave_ yourself."

He tottered off in the direction of the nearest bathroom, and I turned to Mei Ling, eager to quiz her about what the hell she set on me last night. She held up one hand to stop me talking. "Hey, want to see what I found out this morning?"

I stilled, puzzled. "What?"

She tipped a wink at me, and dropped down to the floor. There was an air vent next to her seat, and she expertly untwisted one of the screws and lifted the vent gently to the floor. Holding a finger to her lips, she beckoned me over, indicating that I should be silent. Curious now, I did, not panicking about Aino's return. The old tutor worked like clockwork in the classroom, considering schedules, and his failing body did the same, albeit slowly. He was always away for at least ten minutes. 

Still keeping my ears open for other intruders, I knelt down next to Mei Ling and almost swore in shock. I could hear my mother's voice clearly, and Uncle Tae's too. Mother had taken to her bed almost permanently, now, and I wished desperately for her sake that the Test Sakura was undergoing could be finished soon so her power would stop being drained.

"..._ I understand, Tae_," she was saying. "_The other is still needing magic. But he only has eleven cards._"

_"**Four times more than Xiaolang at this point in time**,"_a male voice I'd grown to hate responded.

_"Tae,"_ my mother cautioned.

_**"Well, it's true. The boy was hopeless."**_

I flinched, and felt Mei Ling touch my arm with concern.

_**"You are only sympathetic towards him because he is of your own flesh and blood. If it were up to me, he'd be out on th streets working for his own bread and shelter by now."**_

_"But it is _not _up to you."_

**_"The Kinomoto brat has twenty-one. The information I got from Xiaolang will further aid us, I think."_**

_"I hope it will quicken the search. My strength fails, Tae. I will need my power returned in twenty days, or I may never wake up."_

**_"The spell defaults the power back to you before then, Yelan. _Trust_ me. My plane is booked tonight for Japan. I will ensure the swiftest completion."_**

_"And you are sure... that Xiaolang believes all his magic gone?"_

Something inside me dropped like a stone, and only Mei Ling's hand, roughly clamped over my lips, prevented me from gasping out loud.

**_"Positive. And I am sure, even if he _did_ do the foolish thing and attempt it, his belief in his own lack of magic would only release the smallest amount."_**

_"I hope you are right, Tae. How long does the clone spell work-"_

A sudden clatter panicked us both, and Mei Ling quickly and quietly replaced the vent. In my ardent concentration on the conversation I had almost forgotten that Aino-sensei would be returning. I clambered back into my seat, grabbing my pen as if it had never left my fingers, and tried to not look flustered. But how was that even going to be possible! I was not devoid of magic. They had lied to me. They had _lied_ to me!

The look on Mei Ling's face surprised me as I glanced quickly at her, my heartbeat echoing Aino-sensei's advancing steps along the corridor. She _knew_. She knew I... More facts clunked into place like a weary jigsaw. That sphere last night had been to test if I _did_ have magic. It was one of the last Clow spheres. Nine had been made. Four had been lost, one resided in my mother's room, and the other four were held by the four other great Chinese clans. I knew she wouldn't steal anything, so she must have tracked down one of the four lost ones... and I had smashed it last night.

Mei Ling pressed one finger to her lips again, turning her face expectantly to the doorway as Aino strode in, looking flustered.

"Ah, here we all are. You won't tell your guardians how long I was? Don't want your favourite tutor to be fired, now, do we!" Aino settled into position at the head of the table, and I guess I looked rather guilty as he fixed a pointed look at both of us. "You two _did_ revise while I was away, didn't you?"

I tried to force my guilty look away, but I knew I wasn't fooling anyone. "Uh. We were kind of... gossiping..."

Aino rolled his eyes upwards to the ceiling, while Mei Ling looked a little astonished at what I'd said. "You know I should report you both to Bo Tae, or your mother, Xiaolang. No matter, we'll ignore it this once. Honesty should be rewarded, after all, and one silence I dare say deserves another! And honestly, two teenagers like you, it would be unnatural if you _didn't_ chatter in your spare time. I don't see why they ban you."

I flashed a warm smile at Aino. He was employed by Genghis, and didn't enforce our captive state maliciously. He suspected it, and did what he could in these small moments to make it a little easier.

"Right. Where were we?"

"Counting numbers," Mei Ling prompted.

"As yes, it was a little revision of mathematical language, no? Before we got onto theory and proof. Sometimes you can include fractions in your set of numbers, and then this set is called _rational numbers_ and is denoted by _this_ symbol..."

I made small notes from his words automatically, knowing I couldn't listen fully after those revelations. I had magic. After all this time, I could still do magic, even though they told me I couldn't. They lied to me, and in my books, that's justifi_cation _for lying right back at them. 

-----

_Sakura_

I turned off the computer and headed over to my desk. "God. This sucks." 

"I thought I smacked your ass down last time you tried to play the negative card," Tomoyo said, arching an eyebrow at me.

I stared at her in disgust. Tomoyo does _everything_ perfectly. Even tough talk! It's so not fair. "I'm not playing the negative card, I'm playing the telling the truth card," I returned sourly, taking my time to pack my bag. Everyone else had gone, and as Tomoyo and I were the current class monitors, we were the ones left to tidy the classroom. Well, I guess an hour after everyone has left is a bit late, but we'd abused our privileges as monitors, using the computers network to surf the net free for a while every day. "You're not the one who has to go see the mayor in full fighting garb to tell him the truth about everything in, oh, the next hour or so."

A sudden thought seemed to strike Tomoyo as she tilted her head at me from her position near the blackboard. "A telling the truth card could come in awfully handy."

I smirked at her, which she thankfully didn't see as she'd turned away to clean said blackboard. "Or I could use the Earthy, which - by the way - I still have the bruises from, and threaten people with certain death unless they told me the truth."

"True, that may also work. It may also convince the devil theorists they were right about you being the child of Lucifer."

I cringed at my best friend. "Urgh."

"You ready to go get changed and tell the mayor you're the new State Protector," Tomoyo teased. I pulled a face at Tomoyo, which unfortunately she saw as she waved the board rubber at me threateningly. I continued to pull a face, and she threw it at me. I span out of the way, and watched as the rubber sailed through the air, then straight through my desk, splattering white chalk dust on the carpet. My mouth dropped open, and I slammed it shut.

"A card?" All playfulness had gone, and Tomoyo's voice was brisk.

"I can't believe I didn't sense it." I forced myself to be still, and felt with all my senses. I could feel it now. "The Through card," I said, feeling the familiar aura of the card. "It's moved!" I swivelled on my heel and made for the door, but was stopped by Tomoyo. Her face was flushed and she'd obviously dashed to get to the door before me.

"Sakura, you can't risk being spotted! You have to-"

I shook my head. "Everyone will have gone home by now or are in the other end of school, and even if not... I have to risk it. I can't lose another card to clone!Li." I looked at her helplessly. "I can't."

She let go of me. "Go. I'll finish up here and be there as soon as I can to watch your back. And I'll bring your bag."

I nodded my thanks and grabbed the cards from my pocket as I hurtled down the corridor, letting my senses guide me. The red aura of the Through bristled my senses, and I ran straight through the wall it was currently playing with. Bad idea. I'd forgotten I was on the second floor, and managed to execute a lousy forward roll to minimize the damage. The felt my shoulder and arm burn from the rough contact with the ground. I turned, and turned the key into my Star staff without thinking about it.

"Key that uses the power of the stars. Appear before me in your true form. Sakura, the one with the contract with you, commands it…Release!"

Feeling in my pocket for the correct card, it slid gently into my hand. "Windy! Confine the Through!"

Windy streaked forwards eagerly, surrounding a glimmering object. I staggered forwards, holding out my wand. Before me, I felt the full force of the Through card, grateful I wasn't having the same trouble with it as last time. _Although how we got dad to believe I fell through the wall because it was a magic trick for school, I'll never know_, I thought ruefully. "Return to your original form, Sakura card!"

I briefly saw the Through card's shimmering image, before it disappeared in a swirl of power, and shrank into a familiar pink card. It flew towards me, and I gratefully hung onto it, feeling its aura resonate against my cheek. I pulled a pen out of my pocket, and wrote my name on it triumphantly, shrinking the key as I did so. I felt Windy slide into my pocket, and sighed, relieved.

A sudden movement caught my attention, and I glanced up, scared. My heart thundered into my rib cage, only calming down when I realised it was Tomoyo. She was holding my bag and coat, with her own shouldered, but her face was twisted.

I walked forwards tentatively, taking my bag from Tomoyo silently. "What's wrong, Tomoyo?"

She pointed behind me, her arm shaking. My heart slammed against my ribs again, and I turned around slowly, hoping, and falling, and denying what had obviously happened. "You were seen," Tomoyo whispered.

I dared to look, and for a futile second wished for the millionth time that day that Syaoran were there. Just a touch from him, it would all be okay, I was sure. But he wasn't here. And it wasn't okay.

"I'd say you were seen," an accusing voice rang out.

I felt dizzy, and my world fell down.

-----

**Wanna find out who saw her? Review! I'll finish it faster if you do, I promise.**

**Jeez, I'm such a review whore! Heehee! ^^;; See ya later, Cardcaptors!**


	5. The Scions of Magic

**~.~The Dreams We Left Behind ~.~**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky 

----- 

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, sometimes this time Sakura's and Tomoyo's fault! Eesh, Syaoran, you're baaaaaaaaad influence. Based on the anime. 

**Author's Notes:**

Thank you sooooooooo much for the reviews! I love each and every one of you who took the special time out of your busy lives to write me those small encouraging notes. ^^;;

And to all Welsh Cardcaptors, even displaced Welsh girls like me:

**Gyda dymuniadau gorau am y Nadolig a'r Flwyddyn Newydd!**

To everyone else!

**Best wishes at Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!**

---- 

**Last chapter: **Sakura, as the "Card Mistress" is declared as state protector by the mayor and police chief of Tomoeda, while some of the media reserve judgement on her - is she good? Or is she evil? Mei Ling tests Syaoran to see if he still holds magic, and the test proves positive. It is later confirmed by an overheard conversation. Tae, after wringing information about the cards from a not-entirely truthful Syaoran, decided to go to Tomoeda to check up on Clone!Li's progress, while Sakura captured the Through card... and was seen.

----- 

**Chapter ****Five - ****The Scions of Magic**

_"You were seen," Tomoyo whispered._

_I dared to look, and for a futile second wished for the millionth time that day that Syaoran were there. Just a touch from him, it would all be okay, I was sure. But he wasn't here. And it wasn't okay._

_"I'd say you were seen," an accusing voice rang out._

_I felt dizzy, and my world fell down._

-----

_Syaoran_

"Are you _sure_ this is going to work?" I tried to keep my voice low as I hissed at Mei Ling. She sent me a withering glance, and I shrugged amicably at her.

"How many of my plans have you known to fail?"

I folded my arms. "The Barbie and Ken plot, the setting the terrapins free from the pet store plot, the bombing school plot, the 'let's be nasty to Sakura until she cries and gives up being a Cardcaptor' plot..."

Mei Ling stuck her tongue out at me. "One was half your idea, and the other three were when I was _five_."

I held up my hands in apology. "Sorry I took your question literally."

"And the Barbie and Ken plot was foiled by outside influence," Mei Ling protested. I resisted the urge to giggle. If Mei Ling found out _I _was the one who nuked her stupid Bermuda Ken doll so I wouldn't have to dress up like him for the New Year celebrations, then my life was so not worth living.

"Shhhh. Let's not start laying blame. We'd better start the argument."

Mei Ling grinned and tossed one of her Odomo-topped ponytails. "I tell you I'm right!"

"And I tell you that you're wrong! I have no magic left, Mei Ling."

"I still don't understand how they took it all away. You were born with it innately, Xiao Lang, that cannot be taken away." She smirked at me, and I scowled.

"Well, it's no use! And what would I do with it if I had it? Screw up again?" I shook my head furiously in case anyone had reached the front of the house and was watching. By the volume we'd raised our voices to, I didn't doubt half the household could hear.

"It would aid you, and stop making you feel useless," Mei Ling snapped back at me.

"Seriously, Mei. What would I do? If I had it now, I swear I'd-"

"You'd _what_? Smack me around?"

"Don't tempt me!"

"Coward. You're just too scared to test it out!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am NOT!" I roared, charging forwards. "Magical wind, DESCEND!" I moved my fingers in the ritual, and released the smallest sliver of magic I could. My meditation exercises that I had been practicing over the last few years that I'd thought were absolutely useless, considering I supposedly had no magic, kicked in. I felt the magic run across my fingers, my skin tingling, and a slight breeze knocked into Mei Ling.

She instantly looked saddened on the outside, except for a very small twinkle in the corner of her eyes.

"Are you happy now?" I let rip, expelling the anger I felt towards my family into the act of being mad at Mei Ling. "That was me trying my hardest to knock your stupid arse over. Are you satisfied? Huh?" I sank to my knees, hitting the dust harder than I'd anticipated. I allowed myself to feel some of the pain, to add a truer slant to the proceedings.

"CHILDREN!"

I felt my insides coil as I glanced up to see Tae sweep out of the house. I could detect nothing but a smug happiness emanating from the shrivelled porcine git. He pretended to be angry. It fit. I was pretending to be mad, while inside me my heart was slamming up and down in a fair approximation of an Irish jig.

"What do you think you were UP TO? Fighting like this... While your own mother, Xiao Lang, lies upstairs ill! You will both go upstairs and apologise to her right now." I glanced sideways at Mei Ling, and could see she was feeling the same jumbled mix of emotions as I was. Happiness that I still had my magic - better even that it used to be! - anger at them for deceiving me, and the same desire to smack that ingrate's expression off his smarmy face. Relative or no.

"I told you this would happen, Xiao Lang. Small remnants remain. To be honest, I was expecting you to try it sooner, so I will not admonish you too harshly. I presume you will never do it again?"

"I promise," I said, scrambling to my feet and bowing my head low. I then straightened to look my uncle in the eyes. I saw in them a small amount of fear, but the happy look of a man who has gambled and won, and it hit me. He thought that my belief of not having magic would have the effect of releasing a little amount of magic and devestating me further. If I had actually fought with Mei Ling a week earlier, perhaps that would have been the exact case, and my magic would have probably been lost forever.

"Go. Now. Apologise to your mother for making that sound."

I nodded, and then noticed the pile of cases being loaded into the car by Wei. I inclined my head at him. "Are you going somewhere, uncle?"

He blinked, surprised, then glanced back at the house to where the suitcases were being loaded into the car. That seemed to relieve him, as he grunted. "Yes. Business. In the city. I'll be back in three weeks. Look after your mother. No more silly stunts like this."

"Yes, sir." I bowed, and hearing Mei Ling pad gently behind me, went towards the house, my heart thumping like it hadn't since I'd written that note to Sakura... I felt dizzy for a long second. Sakura! I could be of some help to her after all... You know, if I ever got free of this prison...

"It worked," Mei Ling whispered to me, and I nodded as we headed up the stairs. "After we apologise, I'll tell you the next stage over some lunch."

"Good idea," I replied, my stomach growling as if it had heard her. She just laughed and shook her head as I grinned, sheepishly but fiercely at the same time. After all, things were different now.

-----

_Mei Ling_

Oh, gods. He's thinking of Sakura again. You can always tell. His eyes go like he's looking at something far away, and that space of his neck between his hair and collar goes pink and when you ask him a question he stutters tremendously. _Hehe_.

"Seen anything interesting?" I ask, innocently. Syaoran spluttered and spat half-chewed rice all over his plate (ewwwww! Remind me never to do this while he's eating!) and managed a coughed "ehhhrrrm-rhm" before he levelled a flat stare at me.

"Cow," he managed softly, the spot on the back of his neck almost glowing. He looked dismayed at my expression. "My neck glowing like a nuclear power station again, huh?"

I nodded, while he sagged on the wicker seat. We were sat on a table in the kitchens, in the quiet area near all the books and dry stored goods, where Cook lets us eat our lunch so we won't get under her feet. Syaoran was throwing a dirty look at me while he started to peel an apple, shredding the skin with his fingernails. Normally I distracted his Sakura-thinking sessions in the middle of our tutoring sessions with Aino-sensei, to get him into trouble or avoid answering a particularly fiendish question.

Syaoran sighed. "I'm worried about mother. She seemed so... fragile. Like a china doll."

I patted the back of his hand softly. "I know. That's why we have to work fast. I'm sure Tae has something evil in mind for the cards. I don't have any solid proof, just a... feeling."

Syaoran nodded slowly. "So, what's this plan you mentioned earlier?"

I looked around to check no one was listening in. Wei was safe, Aino could be persuaded to let us get away with a few small things as long as we returned the favours, and Cook was mostly harmless... but in a household like this, you could never be sure who was listening. I said a silencing charm under my breath, hoping it would be strong enough. "I know if I tried sneaking around to prove that Tae had an evil intention concerning the cards, the people left loyal to him would inform Tae and I'd be out of here before you could say _shazam_. At the very least I'd be separated from you, and then we'd have no chance. So, it stands to reason that we need someone we can trust. Wei has done too much for me already, I can't ask him anything else. But there's someone I know who would do it, with the right persuasion. And I know the perfect persuasion."

Syaoran looked at me confusedly. I grinned, and he pouted, disgruntled, at my sudden wicked expression. "_You _know who likes a tragic love story, don't you?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

He sighed. "You think _they'd_ listen?"

I nodded. "Positive. All we have to do is to tell them the truth." My gaze turned fierce. "And I mean the whole truth, Syaoran. That one thing you'd prefer hidden from them is probably our one best bargaining tool."

-----

_Sakura_

"I'd say you were seen," an accusing voice rang out.

I felt dizzy, and my world fell down. I felt my knees weakening, and fought to stay upright.

"Chiharu, Yamazaki, Rika, Naoko..." I could hear my own voice, sad but sort of distant, like I wasn't the one speaking. "I-"

"You're the Card Mistress? After all this time?" The accusing note in Rika's voice was hard, and I winced at the words. "Why didn't you _tell_ us?"

"I-I-I- _wanted_ to! I wanted to!" I turned at them, fierce, trying to get them to believe through sheer power of my own will. "You have to believe that. But this is beyond me, guys. This is completely beyond me. It wasn't my secret to tell. There's so much more at stake than me, here. So many people who would be in danger if I told even the people I wanted to!" My voice sounded shrill to my own ears. I looked away, not wanting to see the fear and horror on their faces. My shoulders sagged, and I felt Tomoyo's presence as she hovered by my shoulder. "Just... come to my house. I'll... explain everything there. If we stay out here..."

I couldn't finish the sentence. I just _couldn't. _I forced myself to look up and see their expressions, expecting to see pure hatred, and instead saw sympathy and sorrow mingled with fear of what I was, what I did. I pressed my lips together, and closed my eyes.

"I wish he was here, Tomoyo," I muttered to my best friend, and she gently touched my shoulder before nodding at the others. They seemed to silently acquiesce to my request, and we all started walking disjointedly to my house, as if someone had died.

Eventually it was Rika who broke the silence. "Who do you wish was here?"

I turned and glanced at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"You just muttered to Tomoyo that you wish _he_ was here," Rika pressed on.

"Oh." I fell silent. I hadn't thought I'd been overheard. "I- Goddess, I don't think you'd understand."

Chiharu stepped forwards across my path and pressed one hand square on my chest. "Try us. We're supposed to be your friends, Sakura. We want to help."

"Syaoran," I admitted, surprising myself. I don't think I intended to say so, but it just slipped out.

"Syaoran?" Yamazaki blurted out, incredulous. "As in Li 'too good at everything to even remember he was once our friend' Syaoran?"

"That's not Syaoran, Yamazaki," Tomoyo broke in, her voice crisp and informative. "It's some sort of clone, we think. Maybe one of his relatives changed to look like him. The real Syaoran would not have done this. He'd rather whop off one of his own limbs with a sledgehammer than-" She stopped suddenly, as if she'd said too much. Which, of course, she had. I fixed a dour glare at her. If looks could kill, it would have flattened several large villages, if not a few small towns. Tomoyo, however, merely raised one eyebrow at me and kept her tongue.

"I think there's a lot here Sakura hasn't told us, a lot more than we think," Naoko said. She didn't sound mad. Only amused. _Oh, no, not now!!!!!!!_ I thought, panicked, feeling my face heat up. _Crap, dammit, crapcrapcrap!!_

"A LOT more!" Chiharu giggled, seeing my blush. "Syaoran and Sakura up a tree!"

"Doing what they should not be!" Tomoyo added in a sing-song voice, dodging out of the way as my arm """accidentally""" whistled through the air in her direction.

I gritted my teeth and stomped the rest of the way.

-----

_Sakura_

"Okay, okay. We get the cards stuff. We get the danger, you're now the Mistress of the Clow, blah, yadda, blah," Chiharu said, waving her hands around.

We were all crammed into my bedroom, taking up all the furniture that could be used as seating, and much of the floor space besides. I fluffed the edges of the pillows I was perched on, and waited to see what Chiharu was getting at. I think I had done a good job of telling the story, and Tomoyo obviously couldn't wait to show them the tapes she'd gotten and edited of some of the captures.

I looked at Chiharu wearily. "Blah, yadda, blah? I risked my life to, like, save the world from disappearing _and_ do a play on the same night, and all I get is a blah?"

"Two blahs," Yamazaki corrected, a grin on his face. "Did you know the word blah was invented by Isaac Newton, godfather of physics, in a terrible accident involving a squirrel?"

_WHAM!_

"What have I told you about lying in public!" Chiharu screamed as we all face-vaulted and Yamazaki rubbed his cheek ruefully. She smiled sweetly at me. "So why did you want Syaoran, huh?"

My face flamed brilliantly again, and I let out a gurgle from the back of my throat. "I told you about his family, the Li clan. They're really strict about magic, but he is a descendant of Clow Reed, the guy who made the cards? Anyway, he can do magic, elemental stuff, and he would have been really great support in this fight."

"Really great support in the fight," Rika echoed dully. "What? Do you think we're five years old?? That is totally not the reason, at least not the full reason, and we all know it."

I gurgled again and hid my face in my arms. "Tomoyo? Can you get them to stop picking on me?"

"Nope, Sakura," Tomoyo giggled, "I think you're going to have to answer this one."

"Crap." I sighed and lifted my now-freakishly-nuclear-glowing face. "Well, he was a complete asshole when I first met him. All demanding, saying the cards belonged to his family, and he was the best Cardcaptor of them all. You know what he was like in the beginning. Then.. as time went on... I guess he mellowed. Changed."

Changed like my voice was changing. It was going all soft, and sappy, and I wished to hell I could stop myself. Nope, full-sap-on mode for talking about Syaoran, yet again. Sigh.

"Anyway," I continued. "He got exiled home because he hadn't managed to get the cards, and hasn't been back since."

"Nice dodge," Naoko complimented with a very shrewd expression on her face which I did not like one bit. "Doesn't explain the raspberry glow to your face."

"He managed to scribble one note before he left, thanks to a colleague of Touya's," Tomoyo butted in. I didn't know whether I did want her help or not, but decided to remain silent as my throat seemed to just want to make gargly noises. "He warned her of the test, that someone of his family would come to fight her, and he wrote down his feelings."

"Brave bastard," Yamazaki commented gruffly. "Even though - like you said - at the end of the time he was here, he changed, he still wasn't the hearts and flowers kind of guy."

"Neither am I," I said sadly. "That's the problem. And because I couldn't tell him that I-" I struggled for the word, and used silence and a shrug to imply it instead. "He'll probably never know how I feel."

"None of that crap," Rika almost growled. I looked at her in surprise. I knew she had a backbone, that was becoming more and more evident as the evening progressed, but this was strength I'd never seen in her before. "You'll see him, the real Syaoran, again. Some day. I can feel it."

I vaguely saw everyone else nodding along with her.

"True love always finds its course," Chiharu murmured like an expert, sharing a fond glance with Yamazaki.

"True love?" I blurted, like a frightened six year old. "Love?" Okay, I was slightly aware I'd started babbling, but I wasn't very good at _stopping_ babbling when it had started. "I didn't say anything about love! I don't, I mean, I can't, I mean- I obviously don't know what I mean! Man, this sucks! Love, hah, I-"

_WHAM!_

I squeaked in surprise as Tomoyo's backhanded dislodged me from my precarious position on the edge of the bed and I landed awkwardly on the floor.

"Yes, Sakura," Tomoyo said firmly, not looking repentant at the heinous thing she just did to me! "Love. You love him."

I looked at the carpet for a long moment, struggling into an upright position, my knees pressed against my chest as I started to shake uncontrollably. "I-I- know. I-" Words fell out, and I was grateful. Words were usually better than the tears that had started to fall every night, burning my skin, counting the seconds until I could see Syaoran again, and, oh, I _would_ see Syaoran again. I had to. I had to. "I've always known, but it's so _hard_, and hopeless... I mean, I got the cards once, I had _him_ to help me, but now..."

"Now you have his love in your heart," Tomoyo said gently, as she knelt on the carpet in front of me, holding my hands in her own. "And your friends behind you. And the strength of your own star. Keroberus chose you for a reason, Sakura. You were born to shine. Don't be afraid to."

I nodded, fighting back tears. "I-I-I'll try," I promised, my vision swimming. My friends smiled down at me, and I felt something inside me warm to that. I would do my best. For them, for the world, for the magic, for Kero and Yue and Touya and Dad. For myself. For Clow Reed's legacy. For Eriol, and Supinel, and Ruby Moon, and Mitsuko, and all the people who believed in me. But most of all... for Syaoran. I would do it for Syaoran. And with my reclaimed power, I would fight for him back.

I clambered to my feet, the promise of victory finally stirring in my veins, and I nodded thankfully at all my friends. "I'll beat the Li clan impostor. Because I can keep this city safe. Because-"

"Because you're Sakura," Rika interrupted. I felt a scowl begin to creep on my face - why the hell do people keep giving me that reason!!!! - but forced it away by holding out my right hand. I felt Tomoyo place hers on top of mine, and the others placed theirs on top of hers.

"For Syaoran," I whispered, looking furiously up through the ceiling as if I could will myself to be there, with him.

I forced my gaze back down as we raised our joint hands into the air, and we sounded out my promise with one voice.

"For Syaoran!!!" 

-----

_Syaoran_

I tried to keep my composure as I looked down at my sisters, perched on a row on my bed. I sent a nervous prayer to the Elements, hoping Sakura wasn't having to undergo anything as horrendous as this!

"...So that brings us up to the point of the day of the Sealing of the Void card," Mei Ling said, looking across at me with a supportive glance.

"We knew all this," Fuu Tie said, scratching her ear and looking bored.

I opened my mouth to say what I'd planned to say, and let it shut hard. Squirming, I looked helplessly at Mei Ling.

"Tell them, or I'm telling them for you," she snapped at me. I sank my face into my hands, and then lifted it up sheepishly.

"There's sort of... uhm... one thing I kind of didn't completely get around to, y'know... erm..." I squirmed again. "Telling anyone."

"Well, that was eloquent," Fan Ren complimented, looking amused. "What does it have to do with us?"

"I, uh- broke the rules and wrote a note to Sakura, telling her that the test was coming," I said, fidgeting, my fingers digging into my sleeves.

"XIAO LANG!" She Fa exclaimed. "You could get into big trouble if Tae or mother find out!"

I hung my head sheepishly. "I-I- know. I just- had to get in contact with her _somehow_! I had to tell her how I felt... That I-"

All signs of disappointment in my behaviour had suddenly turned to acute interest in the tale.

"Tell who how you felt?" Fei Mei asked, bemused. She Fa whacked her across the back of her head.

"Tell Sakura how he feels about her," Fuu Tie said, sounding amused at my situation.

"Oh. How does he feel?" Fei Mei asked, tilting her head to one side. All four stared at me.

"I'mkindofinlovewithherbutdon'ttellanyone," I mumbled, the words melding together in my rush to get the words out.

"Huh?"

"Kindofinlovewithherbutdon't-" I tried again.

"What?"

"I'M IN LOVE WITH HER!" I yelled. Frustrated I sat down on the carpet, and pulled my knees to my chest. Bad idea. Instantly, my sisters leapt at me, four redheaded behemoths, and started hugging me and fluffing my hair and pinching my cheek and making cooing noises.

"Our little wolf's in _love._"

"Xiao Lang and _Sakura_. How CUUUUUUUUTTTTTEEEE!"

"I _thought_ I sensed something between you when she was here!"

"She was so pretty. I can totally see you two together... Married... Kids..."

"Little problem in that area," Mei Ling interrupted, rolling her eyes when she caught me glancing at her. My sisters let me go, but stood protectively next to me. _Oh, crap. Bond with them a little, and then they don't leave you alone..._

"OOOOOHHH, yeah, the family hate her!" Fan Ren exclaimed. "But wait! If you married, wouldn't the cards stay in the family?"

"And seeing as they said Sakura has Clow's blood in her too, wouldn't it be all right?" Fuu Tie added.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiit a second!" I shrieked, then winced as they all looked at me appraisingly. Elements, please say it hadn't sounded so girly to them! From their glances, it looked like it. "I have no idea how she feels about me, let alone... marriage! And what do you MEAN Sakura has Clow's blood in her too? What the hell is going on?" I was confused. I knew Eriol was only the half-reincarnation of Clow, but... Merlin, did this explain some things! _No wonder the clan keeps calling her a half-blood!_

She Fa hiccupped at me. "Uh, you do you know Kinomoto had valid recourse for being the next Master of the Clow because her father's the half reincarnation of Clow Reed, don't you? Eriol told us last time he was here, that he was the half reincarnation that got the memories and the power, and Kinomoto Fujitaka... Got everything else."

"And her mother was from the biggest magic clan in Japan," Fuu Tie finished. "Why do you think that that cutie Touya could see ghosts?"

"You mean, before he gave his power to that other hottie," Fan Ren sighed. "What was his name?"

"Yukito," Fei Mei half-said, half-breathed.

"So cyuuuuuute," She Fa exclaimed, clasping her hands together.

O_kay_, this definitely proves it. My sisters... are aliens.

"_I'd better not tell them Touya and Yukito are gay until they've agreed to help, huh?_" I sent to Mei Ling so just she could hear.

"_THEY'RE WHAT?"_ Mei Ling thought-shrieked back at me, amusement half-colouring her thoughts that I could actually use my magic like this again, and genuine shock colouring the rest of it.

"_Gay_," I repeated tiredly, waiting until my sisters had stopped being so starry eyed.

"_Sheesh, all the best ones... Gay or involved,_" Mei Ling sighed back at me.

"_I'm not gay_," I instantly protested.

"_Practically involved,_" Mei Ling sniffed. "_Anyway, there was that whole Yukito thing._"

I fought to stop my neck turning red. I'd managed to stop my face from turning crimson after a lot of practice, so how come this was so difficult? "_That was a misunderstanding!_!" I thought-yelled back. "_I was scared of his power._"

"_Whatever_._"_

"You say you have no idea?"

I turned from a smirking Mei Ling to look at Fan Ren who had spoken. "Huh?"

"You said you had no idea how she feels," Fan Ren elucidated further. "And she knows how you feel about her."

I nodded, feeling heat rise up my neck.

"They'd notice a Tomoeda number on the phone bill," she continued, thinking out-loud. I could practically see the cogs turning in her head. "So, stands to reason, one of us should do what mother suggested and go after Uncle Tae, pretend to be there to help, and somehow get a message to her. Then whoever goes can phone home and give an answer."

"And then what?" Fuu Tie asked.

"Well, if her feelings are the same as his feelings, we get them together!" She Fa said firmly. "No matter what!"

Fei Mei clenched her left fist. "And if not, we-"

"-still do me a little favour," I interrupted smoothly. Again, their eyes were on me. "You four all know that mother's health is a little dodgy right now. Even when she helped give power to the Wu clan to defeat Pau Mei, she didn't get this weak. I know she's a bit older now, but still- she's in danger, and I'm worried."

"We are, too," Fan Ren said, looking directly at me.

"I suspect that maybe... Gods, I don't want to speak ill of anyone, especially one of the clan elders, but... maybe all this power isn't necessary. You know I wouldn't ask you to investigate Uncle Tae without due reason, and it's not for personal gain. If he doesn't lead the clan, it will be another, not me. Uncle Yama, perhaps." I looked down, my fingers clasped together. "I don't think his reasons for his dedication to this project are fully for the clan."

"That's what we thought," She Fa said quickly, surprising me. "Don't look so surprised, little wolf. We have minds of our own."

"And we do not always think entirely of ensnaring cute, rich husbands," Fei Mei added with a grin.

"That's why I'm going," Fuu Tie said. "We decided last night that I would do what mother requested. Not to aid Uncle Tae in this quest, to see what his motives are. We do, however, think that a little detour to facilitate true love will not harm our mission in the least."

"To be honest, it's also for the good of the clan," She Fa said. She winked at me, and the surprise got me so much I could feel my cheeks starting to warm up. _So much for my control_, I chided myself. "The Card Mistress, part of our family." She wiggled her eyebrows at me and I blushed furiously at the way she said it.

"The silence charm will lose power in a minute," Mei Ling warned quietly from the corner. My sisters dove at me for one last hug, ruffling my hair out of all sense of order and bestowing flighty kisses on me.

"Be patient, little wolf. She will return your love. We are sure of it," Fan Ren murmured in my ear before they all released me and walked off, conspiratorial smiles plastering their faces for the few seconds that they were still in the sanctuary of my bedroom.

"How about that," Mei Ling murmured, sinking down onto one of my chairs.

"How about that, indeed," I returned, unable to say another word, stunned. "Do you think she'll say-"

Mei Ling turned to me with a sad smile. "She'd be a fool _not_ to feel the same way..."

I smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, Mei."

-----

_Sakura_

I waved goodbye to Chiharu and Yamazaki, the last to leave at 8:30 because they lived closer to me and could get home in time for the curfew, and turned back to Tomoyo with a tired shrug. I opened my mouth to say something, and the phone started to ring.

_RRRRRRRRRRRRRING! RRRRRRRRRRRRRING!_

"Crap," I said eloquently, shrugging again and padding gently over to the phone. "Moshi moshi, Kinomoto residence."

"_Sakura? Hi, it's me."_

"It's my dad," I called over to Tomoyo with my hand briefly over the handset before speaking into the phone. "Hi. Where are you?"

"_At the Daidouji residence. Honey, are you and Tomoyo coming along now? Sonomi says you can stay over if you want_, _with the curfew in place, and everything_."

"Okay," I said. "I'll start out in ten minutes when I've got my homework and toothbrush."

"_Okay, 'Kura. See you in twenty minutes. Take care crossing 5th street."_

"I will. I love you. Bye."

"_I love you too_," he said, hanging up.

I turned to Tomoyo. "I've been invited to your house to sleepover," I said, and Tomoyo flushed faintly.

"Oh, I forgot!" She giggled. "I was supposed to ask you over."

"It's kind of strange, though," I murmured.

"What is?" Tomoyo was instantly concerned, and crossed the small distance between us, one concerned hand on my elbow.

"That dad is over at your place, half an hour from the curfew," I said.

"Maybe he's staying over too," Tomoyo said, unconcerned. "Mum was your mother's cousin, you know. He and my mother have been getting on better recently. Maybe they want to reminisce or something. There's plenty of rooms."

"Yeah," I said, heading into the sitting room to where I'd dropped my school bag, while Tomoyo headed into the bathroom to get my toothbrush and to tell Kero where I was going. We'd done this ritual so many times, I didn't even have to go pick up some clothes to change into. I had nightwear and a change of clothes at Tomoyo's house, as she did here, so if we wanted to stay over it wouldn't be too difficult.

"Kero says to bring him some desert," Tomoyo said as she trotted back downstairs. She pushed my wash-kit into my hands and I put it into my bag while she locked up the house for me. I pushed the key into my bag and we set off at a fast trot to her house, as it was quite a way off. Doable, in the time. I faintly remember my Cardcaptor uniform in the bottom of my school bag, shrunk by the the Little card I'd recovered last week, and felt a little guilty. If we were too late, I could always challenge any policemen, and prove that because I was State Protector the curfew didn't belong to me. Haha.

We reached Tomoyo's house in comparative silence, me quiet because I'd talked myself to death explaining things to Naoko, Rika, Chiharu and Yamazaki, Tomoyo quiet because... I don't know, really. It had been a pretty stressful day. There were four black cars parked outside the house in front of the garages, but I didn't think that was unusual. Daidouji Sonomi was an incredibly successful business entrepreneur, and a millionaire to boot, and often had people over to discuss business. In fact, that made a lot of sense to me. Dad was probably helping her in one of her business discussions.

We headed for Tomoyo's large and airy bedroom first, so I could drop my bag off there and put my shrunk uniform and the cards in a small unobtrusive bag on my hip that also contained my mobile phone and lip balm in case anyone got suspicious. The bag was less full than I would have liked, though. The missing cards weighed very heavily on my mind, and my stomach was fluttering. I wasn't usually this nervous and unsettled in Tomoyo's house, however large it was. I shared a frantic glance with Tomoyo, who looked just as unnerved as me.

I dumped my bag under her desk, and we headed downstairs, only to come to a halt at the scene in the more posh of the (three!) sitting rooms. Daidouji Sonomi and dad were sat on one sofa, sipping coffee out of dainty cups, opposite three men that I recognised from the news immediately. 

The mayor, the police chief, and the editor of the national newspaper.

_-----_

_Tomoyo_

_Not again!!! _I thought, petrified. It seemed like today was the designated day for Sakura to tell everyone what she was.

I looked fearfully at all five, feeling Sakura shake beside me, worse than when Yamazaki made us watch _Amityville 3_. They were all staring in our direction, their mouths open. I blinked, my mouth suddenly dry, and then suddenly realised they weren't actually staring at Sakura, they were staring somewhere behind us.

I turned, and then discovered why I really felt so unsettled. A girl bedecked in blue and white glared menacingly at me. 

I stared back.

She rushed at me, her hands outstretched into fists, and stars exploded about my head. I felt the floor spin dizzily beneath me, the room turned black and I remembered nothing more.

-----

**It's like 01:41 on January 1st, 2004! I'm so TIRED! Hellllllooooo new year... WAIT! I just typed straight through midnight and didn't notice. Wahhhh... Happy new year, guys, anyway!!!!**

**You know what would be a nice new year's present... *coughs* REVIEW! Awwww, please? I'll put a S+S kiss in the next chapter if you ask niiiiiceeeelllly*entices* Suggestions, praise, constructive criticism, nitpickings (i.e. if I've got the canon wrong somewhere or mistyped something) can all go in the lovely review box! *points vaguely to it***

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	6. All Those Things I Never Knew

**.The Dreams We Left Behind .**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky

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Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, sometimes this time Sakura's and Tomoyo's fault! Eesh, Syaoran, you're baaaaaaaaad influence. Based on the anime.

**Author's Notes: **Sorry for the wait! I had written up until the end, just so y'all would have got the last four chapters within a week and been happier, but just when I had only a few! hundred! words! to! go! BOOOOOOM. Lost everything. So, from the dark recesses of my head, I am trying to recreate this fic.

_-----_

**Last chapter: **Sakura was seen by Rika, Naoko, Takashi and Chiharu, and had to explain to them about being the Card mistress, and why she was missing a certain messy haired brunet... Meanwhile, Syaoran and Mei Ling prove once and for all that Syaoran still has magic, and they enroll his sisters' help to uncover Tae's evil plot and for an opportunity to discover Sakura's feelings. Back in Tomoeda, Sakura and Tomoyo went to Tomoyo's for a sleepover to discover the police chief, mayor and newspaper editor, and an old ferocious friend who knocks out Tomoyo...

-----

**Chapter Six - All Those Things I Never Knew**

_I turned, and then discovered why I really felt so unsettled. A girl bedecked in blue and white glared menacingly at me. _

_I stared back._

_She rushed at me, her hands outstretched into fists, and stars exploded about my head. I felt the floor spin dizzily beneath me, the sky turned black and I remembered nothing more._

-----

_Sakura_

"TOMOYO!"

Launching myself forwards as Sonomi dashed to her daughter's side, I looked at the Fight menacingly. The Fight smirked at me, and tensed, preparing to run away. I didn't want to have to risk having to chase after it, especially if clone!Li had the same thing Syaoran had - that Laisin board thingamajig - which helped him find the Clow cards.

"Fight card! I challenge you!" Dropping into the formal stance to begin a traditional fight, I kept eye contact with the Fight until it mimicked my stance. It bobbed its head and I bowed slightly. I forced myself to take a deep breath, hoping Kero had taught me enough. I began to feel very grateful that Kero had insisted on teaching me to fight.

Moving first into a defensive position, I dodged a punch from the Fight and swivelled on my heel. The background blurred as I focussed all my attention on the fight with the Fight. (Try saying that very fast, five times, without your brain falling out. Go on. I dare you.) Dodging and sidestepping its attacks as best as I could, I started to lead it outside where I'd have enough real space to get into position to attack. Unfortunately, it saw what I was doing and started to edge me towards the wall instead.

Blocking a nasty leg swipe at my own legs, I glanced briefly at the wall and wondered if I could pull it off. I needed to get behind the Fight in order to be any good. I moved into a very defensive position, play-acting that I was in trouble, and moved my hands like Kero had taught me to block the Fight's advances. I stepped backwards once more for good measure, and then used all my energy to jump, kickback off the wall, and somersault. The world span dizzyingly around me and I landed with a thump on the ground, my bent knees taking most of the pressure. From my position behind the Fight it didn't have enough time to turn around and attack. It turned, and I caught it in a throw, throwing it over my shoulder with a crash. The Fight scrambled to its knees, and I moved into a defensive position again, but it stopped and knelt on the ground, her head bent.

She was _submitting_ to me.

I nodded at it. "Return to your power confined!" I yelled, happiness swelling through me in a warm wave that rocked me. The card floated into my hand, and I dug in my pocket for my pen, scrawling my name on it and sliding it fondly into the side carrier with the rest of the cards. I figured that perhaps the Fight interpreted the Test in this way. I had proved myself by besting her in the fight, and that was enough.

I turned, and my heart thudded down into my stomach.

_Crapitcrapitcrapitcrapit_. I smirked sardonically at my own articulacy, and was frantically glad that I didn't speak my babble out loud. I'd kinda forgotten that I'd had an audience. Sonomi and a now awake Tomoyo looked at me from the ground, Dad looked like he was having an aneurysm, and the police chief, mayor and newspaper editor were just blinking at me.

"Do you do this often, Sakura?" Dad shook his head in disbelief. "Tomoyo, I can't believe you'd put your own best friend in this much danger."

_Huh?_ I thought.

"Huh?" Tomoyo blinked at Dad, then at me, then at her mother, and finally back at Dad. "Uh, I'm not the Card mistress, Kinomoto-san."

Dad sat with a thump on the sofa, and I winced. They'd thought _Tomoyo_ was the Card Mistress! I suppose it made a twisted amount of sense, if they'd found the costumes, or something, and thought that Tomoyo was always missing when a Card was being captured.

"I'm the Card Mistress," I said, my voice feeling suddenly tight and constricted. The words sounded flat to my own ears. Dad stared at me hollowly.

"It's true," Tomoyo said, getting to her feet and padding over to me. Her eyes were the kindest I'd ever seen them, and I felt suddenly and abruptly ashamed that she'd been injured because of me. "I can show you the tapes of some of the captures, if you'd like. Or maybe the footage I got of the last encounter with Eriol." Her eyes sparkled at me, and I frowned. I hadn't realised she'd been taping that last fight.

I watched the adults for their reactions. Sonomi and dad held the same bewildered expressions, and the men just looked a little bemused.

"Sakura," Dad finally managed to get out. "I think you have some explaining to do."

I exhaled heavily. "What can I say? I accidentally opened the seal on the Clow book when I was eleven, and was assigned to the task of collecting them up again by one of their guardians, Keroberus, because the reason they were out was my fault. Then, a couple of years later, I had to change them all to Sakura cards, and was helped by the reincarnation of Clow Reed to do so. If you call dropping hundreds of toy sheep on my head _help_," I added ruefully. "Clow Reed set a Test into the cards, so they are set loose every four years to test their Master's strength, if they are still able to wield the power of the cards. That Test is happening now. The boy on the photo is some kind of magical clone of Li Syaoran, a boy from the Li clan in China, a very powerful Chinese magic clan. His clan have always wanted the cards, as they are descendents of Clow Reed."

"Magical clone? Is that possible?"

I shrugged at the mayor. "I happen to believe so. The real Li Syaoran would not place so many people in danger."

"How can you know? If he is from a clan who have always believed that the cards belong to them, the-"

"Seven years ago he came to Tomoeda because his mother had sensed the release of the cards, to capture them for himself. He managed to capture eight cards, and even though he could have held onto them for himself, he gave them to me. He understood that I was the master that Keroberus and Yue had chosen for the cards."

"Yue?" Dad's voice sounded faraway, as if he wasn't really there. _Like when he talks about mother..._ Sadness fought with the happiness that lingered within me from the recapture of the Fight.

"Clow Reed created two guardians for the cards," I explained. "Keroberus for the sun, Yue for the moon. Both of them are powerful in their true forms, and have false forms that Clow Reed created for them so they could be closer to me. Keroberus is, actually, that yellow bear with wings you've seen me carry around occasionally."

Dad blinked. "And Yue is that other teddy bear?"

I felt a small blush come to my cheeks. The bear... that Syaoran had made for me... "N-n-no. Actually, Yue is Yukito."

Dad facevaulted. "Yukito? As in... Tsukishiro Yukito? As in your brother's little boyfriend?"

"As in," I agreed, before all of his words filtered through. _BOYFRIEND????_ Huh. _Boyfriend??_ Huuhhh...

"And Touya knows about this, I presume," Dad continued.

"A-huh," I said, nodding. Then my brain caught up to me. "_Boyfriend?"_

Tomoyo stifled a giggle. "You didn't know, Sakura?"

Indignant, I turned to her. "You _knew?_ And didn't _tell me_?" I sat on the ground with a thump. "Boyfriend. Jeez." Folding my arms, I resisted the urge to sulk. "Guess I'm not the only one who's been surprised today."

My brain was flashing with images of Touya and Yukito, how they were always so close, knew what the other was thinking. The small embraces, Touya's hand resting briefly on Yukito for small brief periods of time, the amount of time they spent locked in Touya's bedroom...My face felt very hot, and I was relieved that it wasn't because of Syaoran for once. Of course, thinking about Syaoran made me _think_ about Syaoran again.

There obviously was no god. I was blushing so hard it was ridiculous.

Of course, Tomoyo had to go and make it worse.

"Yes, Sakura. _Boyfriend_. Like that messy brown haired, brown eyed boy we both know that happens to be _yours_," Tomoyo teased.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" I shrieked back, furious.

"Who's not your boyfriend?" For the first time all evening, Dad looked amused, as if he'd almost accepted the situation and could find some things funny.

"The real Syaoran," Tomoyo said, at the same time I said "NO ONE!" Um. Maybe I yelled it. It didn't help that everyone could still hear Tomoyo.

"Be glad," I hissed at her, clenching one hand into a fist, "that I do not have Chiharu's mallet on me."

Is it wrong to feel glad that she suddenly went very pale?

-----

_Syaoran_

Mathematics is an easy subject for me, if only because every question can be completed by completing a set of rules for each type of question. The logic of mathematics does not change. It does not rely on instinct.

Unlike magic.

My senses were going wild, and my skin bristled with the carefully contained power. I could not let a single smidgen of magic get away, or Mei Ling, Fuu Tie and I would be in an awful lot of trouble. Believe me when I use the pre-modifying adjective _awful. _I don't mean it in a purely colloquial sense. It's more than a saying.

Li Tae was evil. I knew it as surely as I knew now that I would never not love Kinomoto Sakura.

Mathematics, however, can be _affected_ by other things. Especially when your magical instincts are blaring at you that a Star Card is on the war path. I could barely sit still. Aino-sensei fixed me with a long, piercing glare.

"Li-kun," the teacher said, frowning. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," I grunted back between clenched teeth. Aino shrugged a little and turned back to his blackboard. I tried to follow the white squiggles on it, and succeeded up to the point of finding the inverse of the function, but the tingling from my magic was getting too much for me.

Using my magic so suddenly must have reinstated my magical sensitivity. A world I had thought closed to me had been abruptly opened, and every part of me yearned to stretch out and feel it. I could feel magic in every corner of China, some subtle, some lingering. A black cloud seemed to be heading towards Japan, which chilled my soul and left the physical effect of numbing my fingers. I tapped them against the table to warm them up, stopping when Mei Ling fixed a fiery glance in my direction.

I stilled, wincing my apology back at her.

"So, if you take the function g(x), which is the derivative of f(x), and plot them both on the same axes..."

Nope. My brain still wasn't functioning when it came to Mathematics. I sighed, and decided to let my instincts tell me what they were trying to tell me. _Sakura._ Sakura was in some kind of trouble. _This far away_ and it was telling me that Sakura was in danger. In-freaking-credible. Thrilled at this discovery, I worked on keeping it silent, the pulse of energy that pulsated across my skin, and the throb in my temples that told me she was in danger continued for another minute, until it just disappeared.

I snapped back into reality with a thump, and found that I'd clenched my hands into fists, the paper that had lain on the table scrunched into balls. I fought for my breath, and looked up with unsteady eyes at Aino-sensei.

"Li-kun. Would you like a five minute break so you can get some cold water and rest?"

I nodded, gasping my thanks. I turned to see Mei Ling looking at me worriedly, and I looked back, exhausted but fiercely happy.

"I'm going to get some water," I said, meaning _there is some hope after all_.

From the look in Mei Ling's eyes, I think she even understood.

-----

_Sakura_

Tomoyo's a deceptive beast, you know. Just when you think it's safe to get into the water, _bam!,_ she sinks her teeth into you and you're a gonna.

Seriously. I'd thought she'd embarrassed me enough half an hour ago. This. This was _beyond_ humiliation. _BEYOND _humiliation.

Folding my arms and resisting the urge to pull out the Fight and let it give another beautiful black eye to accompany her first one. As it was...

I pulled at the skirt forlornly, and stepped around the corner. Sonomi and Tomoyo were on the settee, sitting together, hearts jumping into their eyes as they saw me. Dad looked a little sad still, but he was smiling at me.

"Tomoyo," I said, my teeth gritted, "the toy sheep thing is _not_ cute."

Tomoyo just goggled at me, her eyes starry. No change there, then. "But it _is_, Sakura."

I fluffed up the black sheep ears she was making me wear. "Isn't the whole costume thing meant to make me look respectable?" I demanded. "What's wrong with the other one?"

Tomoyo looked at me as if I'd gone insane. "It's serviceable, yes, but now you're probably going to be on TV more... and the Test is even more important... you need new battle costumes! Now mum's going to help me, it won't take up so much of my time!"

"But I look like a human sheep!" I twirled in the fluffy white skirt, restraining the urge to bleat at her. Or set her on fire. One of those two would really cheer my day up.

"No, sweetie." Dad wasn't looking sad any more, he was looking way too amused for my liking. "I think you look adorable." He burst out laughing. Crossly, I folded my arms.

"You should have seen some of the other costumes she made me wear," I said gruffly, meaning it in a quite nasty way. Hey, what can I say, the girl completely embarrassed me.

Except, I don't think that was quite the right thing to say. Her eyes went wide, and started to glimmer. I'm not kidding. I swear, if you turned the light off, you could still see her eyes shining.

"Oh, you should!" Tomoyo leapt off her chair. "I'll go and get them!"

I narrowed my eyes, and swiped at her with my Star staff as she hurried off, laughing.

I laughed a little myself, unable to resist the infectious laughter in the atmosphere, and stopped when a faint humming noise reached my ears. _What in the-_

I didn't even have time to react as the wall where not forty minutes previously I'd been using as a kick-back to capture the Fight erupted inwards, shattering debris everywhere. Something fell on me, and everything went black.

-----

_Mei__ Ling_

The household was so still, it wasn't surprising everyone heard Syaoran's yell and the shattering of glass.

I just ran, despite Aino-san's muttered protestation, my hair flying behind me at the speed I was going. I skidded around the corner to see Syaoran's face, tight and white, water and glass in a shattered pile on the floor. He was looking up at the ceiling, his eyes narrowed. I wasn't the only one to hear, as the entire household staff ran in too, the cleaner looking a bit narked off to tell the truth, and then She Fa who was also at home ran in too.

She was staring at him, and I think she got what he was feeling first, as she gasped, "mother!" and turned to run up the stairs. A stunned Syaoran turned to follow. I put up a hand as if to stop him, and instead stepped back and let him go. I shrugged apologetically at the cleaner, and Aino-san who had followed me to see what all the fuss was about, and ran up the stairs to listen in.

"...so pale, got to get the doctor," She Fa was saying as I reached the top of the stairs and paused there, and the beeping sounds announced she was dialing the local surgery from there. Japan has it good, I thought briefly, horribly. China doesn't _have_ emergency services like they do.

"No, it's too late," Syaoran replied, in that horribly worried voice he'd only recently been reserving for his ruminations on Sakura's fate.

I managed to get my feet to move round the corner, and I gasped as I saw Yelan on the bed, in a heap, faint recognition in her eyes as Syaoran bent over her worriedly. He lifted his hands over her, folding them together, concentration on his face as he began to speak.

His hands started to glow. Healing magic! I was momentarily stunned – that type of concentration required _years_ of concentration, of meditation – but of course he'd _had_ the years of meditation! He must have been honing his mind despite not knowing he had the power to do it, obviously hoping _to_ get it back some day.

In admiration I stumbled over to join him, my hands over his as I formed the spell in my head that would pass my magic over to him. He looked at me fleetingly, thanks on his pained face, and together our hands started to glow.

But it wasn't enough.

I twisted my head back to look at She Fa, and she nodded, yanking up the phone again and hitting one of the speed dial numbers. I heard Eriol's name floating through the air, and then _felt_ him. The air slammed around us into a miniature storm, and I stumbled, falling against the bed. A hand, tight on my wrist, stopped me falling, and I looked at Syaoran gratefully.

He nodded, and went back to his tricky intonation patterns.

I stepped back, my power spent, and a familiar figure breezed past me.

Eriol! His arrival must have displaced the air and caused me to stumble.

Eriol was raising his staff, twirling it high in the air, and my eyes widened as I recognised the movements. He was cutting off a magical link.

It took seconds, but it felt like hours to me. The whole room was taut with tension and panic and magic, and when it all finally slipped away with a _whoomph! _sound, I sank to the ground, holding the doorpost and looking up at Yelan's face with concern.

A little bit of colour had returned to her face. Syaoran had slumped at her side, and Eriol… Hoooo boy, did Eriol look pissed.

"What the HELL is going on here?" Eriol demanded. "Why did you wait so long to call me? How long has she been like this??"

I raised my hand, suddenly feeling as if I was in class. Eriol's face softened at the sight of me.

"She's been like this for a while," I explained. "Uncle Tae has been using her power to reclaim the Sakura cards."

Eriol took a second to think this over before, inevitably, turning to Syaoran. "And _you_! Little descendent, I thought I could trust you to hold your family back! And why aren't you in Japan, huh? And-"

"It's not his fault!" I yelled, suddenly irate and pissed at Clow Reed's reincarnation. "Because of that stupid Sealed Card stunt you pulled, they dragged him back here! Syaoran's been little more than a _prisoner_ for the last four years! We only rediscovered that he had magic a week ago! How _dare_ you swoop in here so judgementally as if _you're _so bloody righteous! If I could give you a piece of my mind right now, I would and I freaking hope you choke on it! Yeah, come on, blue boy, chow down on my brain and _die_! Go ahead! Chomp on my neurons! Just-"

"Mei-mei," Syaoran interrupted me gently, and I stopped and stared at him, gob-smacked for two very good reasons. One, that he'd interrupted me mid-flow and now I had all this pent-up _rage_ still floating around inside me, and two, that he'd called me _mei-mei_. He'd never done that. It meant _sister_ in mandarin. Somehow it floored me more than anything has done for awhile. I had been hurt that he didn't care for me like I cared for him, and it turns out, he does.

Eriol looked just as floored, though, so I took some comfort in that. "I think," Eriol said, his voice strangely quiet, "that you've got some explaining to do."

I couldn't agree more.

------

_Sakura_

This unconscious thing is starting to get on my nerves.

Thankfully it only lasted for half a minute, gauging by everyone's reactions, but still! What is it with things trying to drag me into deep, dark voids??

I stumbled upwards, clutching at my head and shaking dust out of my hair. Frantically, I looked around to see if anyone was hurt. Dad and Sonomi looked a bit shaken, and the newspaper editor and mayor looked terrified.

No one looked actually hurt, so I decided to concentrate on finding what the hell just smashed the side of the building in!

There was still lots of dust in the air, so I looked through the cards I had to see if there were any that could aid me. I used the Windy to blow away the dust, while simultaneously using the Create to make two temporary pillars to keep the house up, just in case that was a very important wall.

It was only then that I dared look, really look.

Clone!Li was stood there, with a look of contempt on his face. Something in me withered to see such a look on a face that I loved.

"Card Mistress," Clone!Li greeted.

"Clone," I gritted back at him through clenched teeth. Clone!Li just smirked a little.

"I see you've managed to win the support of a few prominent figures in this town," Clone!Li said smoothly.

"And won another card back," I said arrogantly.

"Ah, yes, the _Fight_." Clone!Li's voice was slightly smug. He knew something I didn't! "It doesn't matter. I've just found out something that'll destroy any hope you have of continuing anyway."

I frowned at him, puzzled, and then gasped as a tall familiar redhead walked towards me, holding another familiar bound figure. My heart cried out, loosening my voice before I could stop it. "CHIHARU!" I yelled. Chiharu looked absolutely terrified, her brown eyes widened, and I- Oh, I wanted to scream, kill, rip chunks of skin from his face!

Chiharu whimpered through her gag, and everything inside me wrenched horribly. I _was_ horrible! I put all my friends in danger!!

Maybe… maybe I shouldn't _be_ the Card Mistress.

"You let her go, you bastard!" I yelled, staff ready in my hands. I was in battle mode. I valiantly tried to forget I'd just sworn in front of my father, too.

"Very well."

I stopped, stunned, as the woman – one of Syaoran's sisters, obviously – let Chiharu go! Chiharu stumbled across the wreckage, and Tomoyo caught her, cradling her protectively in her arms.

"She's told me all I need to know, anyway," Clone!Li said smoothly. "You have feelings for my nephew, Syaoran. I bet he's all that keeps you going."

His voice was mocking. My hands tightened into fists. I could feel that my nails had punctured my skin, drawing blood, but I didn't care.

"If you've done something to him," I said, fiercely, "I'll kill you."

"Quite," Clone!Li said, smirking. "But it is not I that have hurt him. Yesterday he discovered he had no magic left at all. It devastated him. No, I did not hurt him, but he-"

"LIAR!" I yelled, bringing up my arm, reaching for a card.

"Not so fast, Sakura- I _can_ call you Sakura, can't I? There are twenty cards left, after all. We should save our strength for that last showdown." Clone!Li's face was hard. Mocking. Everything in me despaired. Syaoran _wouldn't_ hurt himself- kill- _No_. I couldn't think that. I just couldn't!! "But with your entire reason for living _dead_…" Clone!Li looked even more smug. "Well, I guess no one could blame you for giving up."

"If he's dead," I said furiously, "then it'll be because of _you_, putting him down, locking him away! And I _shall_ revenge his murderer. Syaoran would want me to have the cards. He believed in me, right until the end! His belief in me was his most important feeling!"

Clone!Li looked a little startled at my fury, and in that moment, I knew Syaoran _was_ still alive. And that whoever was controlling Clone!Li was getting worried, to use such a flimsy tactic as to try and get me mad!

"A betrayer to the end," Clone!Li said softly, his lip curling. "Believe whatever you will, Sakura."

Before I could react any more, Clone!Li and Syaoran's sister – I think it was Fuu Tie, but I can't be sure – disappeared in a swirl of magic.

I stared at the spot they'd just vacated in horror for a second, before whirling and running to Chiharu, worry clenching my heart.

-----

_Chiharu_

Sakura descended on me, righteous fury on her face combined with a self-directed fury. I ought to have known she'd blame this on herself!

"He didn't hurt me, Sakura," I said quickly, rushing to reassure her. "He must have been watching us leave your house. Yamazaki only left me for twenty seconds."

"This is all my fault!" Sakura's eyes welled up. "I can't believe that I've managed to put everyone in so much danger!"

Truly miserable, Sakura slumped to the ground.

"Hey, stop that!" I yelled, irritable. Sakura looked up at me, wide-eyed and shocked. "I won't have you blaming yourself! That idiot will get his comeuppance, and in the interim, you have to keep going and give it your all, your best!"

Okay, so if my words were typed, there'd be an _awful_ lot of exclamation marks in it, but I didn't care. I was just so damned mad at her all of a sudden! I think it was just transferred rage. I was mad at Clone!Li, so I was transferring my rage to her.

"Yeah, Sakura!" Tomoyo agreed. "We believe in you! And no _way_ is Syaoran dead," she added firmly. I nodded my agreement.

"Oh!" That reminded me. The redheaded girl that had helped guard me while Clone!Li had stormed us to our destination had slipped me a note and whispered me an order, to get it to Sakura. It had made me less scared, knowing she obviously wasn't working voluntarily for the clone. "Fuu Tie gave me this to give to you!"

Sakura took the paper I handed her, confused. She opened it, and her pretty cheeks coloured in an entirely other emotion than rage. I chuckled as Tomoyo helped me to my feet.

"She- he-" Sakura babbled incoherently for a moment, before looking up. "Syaoran _is_ alive. And he still-" She flushed, brilliantly. I high-fived a grinning Tomoyo.

Kinomoto-san took advantage of his daughter's incoherence to snatch the paper out of her hands. I watched with Tomoyo as Sakura flushed even more as Kinomoto-san and Daidouji-san bent their heads over the paper.

"I'm going to get the cell phone!" Tomoyo's mother squealed, and turned and ran to some other room in the house, apparently unbothered that her sitting room was living up to Fred Flinstone's best bud's surname. Ayep, rubble.

I'd gotten a look at the note myself. "_Sakura, Syaoran is WAY still in love with you. Bo Tae is EVIL keeping you apart! We've smuggled a cell phone into the house, Fan Ren has it. Call her and she can pass a message onto our Little Wolf. You two would be so cute!!! Good luck retrieving the cards, you SO are the one meant to have them. Love, The Li sisters (YOUR FUTURE IN-LAWS!!!!!!!) Fuu Tie, She Fa, Fan Ren and Fei Mei."_

I couldn't help giggling as the newspaper editor, mayor and police chief (of _course_ I recognised them, even _though_ they were covered in rubble dust!) looked at the note too.

-----

_Tomoyo_

Chiharu and I staggered across the mess to the part of the room that wasn't covered in broken stone, while Sakura flipped out the Create card again to fix the wall.

Steadfastly ignoring everyone who was staring at her, Sakura put the card away and stepped back to admire her work.

"A pity you haven't got a card to tidy up, too," Sakura's dad said.

"I haven't got the Erase card back yet," Sakura said, sadly.

"Else you could Erase that bastard," the police chief broke in. "Daidouji-san," he said, greeting mother as she came back into the room, clutching her satellite phone. "We'll send a clean-up crew, compliments of the local government, of course."

"Thank-you very much," Mother replied, remarkably serene considering what had just happened! I guess she's just overwhelmed by everything, and probably relieved that her best friend's daughter will be okay, will have a romance that she and Sakura's mother probably prattled gaily over when they were our age.

"We'll contact you later, Card Mistress, about your official status," the mayor said, nodding at Sakura. "I trust you won't mind, Daidouji-san, if Eri writes up a brief account of what transpired here today?"

By Eri, I suppose he meant the newspaper editor. Mother nodded. "As long as he keeps everyone's safety here into account, of course. But if you publish a single word that will harm either my daughter or Sakura, I will not rest lightly."

The mayor actually bristled! _"Go mum!" _I whispered triumphantly to Chiharu, who was in a remarkably good mood considering she'd recently been kidnapped.

"I will give you a lift home, miss," the police officer said politely to Chiharu, who took his offered hand with a smile. "Explain things to your parents."

"Thank-you," Chiharu said, dimpling a smile. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

I nodded as the mayor, Eri, police officer and Chiharu all gingerly picked their way over the rubble and left, leaving Sakura, her dad, my mother and I alone in the room.

I watched as mother and Sakura's dad looked at each other, some kind of argument in their gazes, and mother eventually handed over the phone to Kinomoto-san.

I held my breath as Sakura's dad tightly held the phone, before bending down on one knee in front of Sakura. I had thought for a minute he wasn't going to let her have the phone, but that was irrational!

"Sakura," he said, his voice gentle, "phone them. Get them to tell him what you feel, inside. Don't let anyone decide your heart for you."

Sakura took the phone, and instead of dialling immediately, she threw her arms around her dad and started to cry.

After everything she'd been through in the last six years, I really, really didn't blame her at all.

-----

**To be continued. **


	7. You Belong To Me

**.The Dreams We Left Behind .**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky

-----

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, sometimes this time Sakura's and Tomoyo's fault! Eesh, Syaoran, you're baaaaaaaaad influence. Based on the anime.

**Author's Notes: **Yeeeah, not long to go now! Two more chapters after this one. More action next chapter!

Sorry about the length of this chapter (not as inordinately long as the others.) Dragging it on would have slowed the pace too horribly.

_-----_

**Last chapter: **The police chief, mayor and newspaper editor, not to mention Sonomi and Fujitaka, found out Sakura is the Card Mistress when she fought the Fight card (not a phrase for when you've got a hangover.) Sakura finds out her brother bats for a different team, as the cliché goes, and is dating Yukito! Syaoran's magical senses went haywire now he was revealed again to have magic. Tomoyo embarrasses Sakura some more.

Yelan fell dangerously ill. Eriol was summoned and was confused, and no wonder, Mei Ling wanted Eriol to eat her brain. The author of this fic overly abused exclamation marks!!! Clone!Li kidnapped Chiharu and tried to say Syaoran was dead, while Fuu Tie sneakily used Chiharu to sneak a note to Sakura, telling her of her little brother's intentions. Sonomi ran for a phone, and Sakura finally got to get a great big hug from her dad and have a well earned cry. Aw, bless.

-----

**Chapter Seven – You Belong To Me**

-----

_"Sakura," he said, his voice gentle, "phone them. Get them to tell him what you feel, inside. Don't let anyone decide your heart for you."_

_Sakura took the phone, and instead of dialling immediately, she threw her arms around her dad and started to cry._

_After everything she'd been through in the last six years, I really, really didn't blame her at all._

-----

_Eriol_

Was _this_ ever too much to take in! I was quickly reminded of one of Kaho's wide adages, _never underestimate the power of stupid people when they're in large groups_.

I had swanned off to a life of my own, confident that Sakura could handle it, and left her at the mercy of a whole host of Chinese morons, who thought just because they're blood related to – well, _me_ – that they can get away with some really, really stupid things!

I really couldn't manage eloquence or articulacy, either. If anyone wondered where Syaoran got his tendency to babble from, it was from Clow Reed. Same with Mei Ling. _Eat my brain_. The girl's got courage, I'll grant her that, even if she does grow increasingly more incomprehensible with age.

"Right," I said tiredly, at their frantic and frankly jumbled explanation. I'd gathered the main bits, and was still a bit stunned at my _own _stupidity. I should have done something about the Li clan a long time ago. However, some of them seem to have come out all right, so maybe not meddling was a semi-decent plan. "I wish I had enough magic left to help you. I used what I had left to get here, and sever that connection. I suspect, from the depth of it, that Bo Tae is not working to the advantage of the clan."

"I knew it," She Fa said, quietly. "Syaoran will have to go. He's the only one."

"I agree," I said. "I will stay here, override any clan interference. You should have tried contacting me first of all, Syaoran. I think in the hierarchy of magic, I rank above any Li still." My mouth twisted wryly. "Despite the magic I slipped surreptitiously to my counterpart." Fujitaka had been unknowingly shielding his daughter well for the last few years. I was grateful for the respite.

Syaoran looked a little unsteady as he got to his feet. He nodded. "I will go. But-" He looked uncertainly back at his mother, worry for her plain on his face.

"Sakura needs you," Mei Ling interrupted. "She Fa and I will look after her for you. You have to-"

"Have to stop him," another voice said. I blinked and turned to see Li Yelan looking at us, her unwrinkled face creasing with fatigue and weariness, yet her eyes sparkled at her son.

"Mother," Syaoran exclaimed, running to her side, clasping her hand. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you, but I-"

"You have to stop him," Yelan murmured back. "He's not working for the clan. You-" She coughed. "You can do it, Syaoran. I should have trusted you, my son."

Syaoran looked so touched, I almost smiled. Almost. I stopped myself before I could ruin my reputation as a prankster amused only by my own jokes. I caught Mei Ling smirking at me, though, and knew I'd been caught. Dammit.

"Yes," Syaoran said, surprising us all, "you should have." I looked in wonder, and saw that maybe I shouldn't have worried so much about the fate of the Li clan. Li Syaoran, its true leader, had somehow just grown up in front of us all in the last few minutes.

Yelan looked infinitely sad. Syaoran bent down and kissed her cheek.

"I'll find him," Syaoran promised. He straightened up. "She Fa, call the airlines. I need a ticket to Tomoeda, as soon as possible. Mei, make sure there's someone posted on the door for when the medics get here. I'm trusting you to look after mother. Eriol, dinner should be ready soon. Thank you for your energy. Please take advantage of the food to replenish some of it. I-"

Whatever he was about to say next, was interrupted by the figure at the door.

I didn't recognise him, but Mei Ling and Syaoran obviously did.

"Aino-sensei!" Mei Ling gasped. Obviously some kind of personal tutor.

Aino folded his arms, filing the doorway with his imposing figure. I tensed, ready to knock out this new arrival. Syaoran stilled me with a hand on my arm.

"Well, well, well," Aino said, his voice light. "I think Tae will have a field day hearing about this."

-----

_Sakura_

I stared at the phone nervously. Sonomi assured me after programming in the phone number that all I had to do was press the green button. Tomoyo, bless her really, had suggested maybe privacy was a good thing.

Considering how much privacy I'd actually had with the big revelations about this relationship, you'd have thought that being on my own would make this easier. But the very idea of the word _relationship_ was making my fingers tingle and shake, and I really wasn't going to be on my own talking to Syaoran, I was going to be alone talking to his sisters

Even now I was semi-convinced this was a joke. Syaoran could _never_ feel the same way, right? I mean, there were the scribbled words, and-- Oh, I could never be so lucky! I loved him so much. If I was honest with myself, it was that feeling which created the unnamed card that had saved both of us from having our most important feeling taken away.

Courage, Sakura! I pressed the button before I could think any more. I fearfully held the phone to my ear. The ringing tone buzzed tinnily down the line and then-

"_Sakura??_ _Fei__ Mei, it's Sakura!!! Sakura, it's me, Fan Ren."_

I gripped the phone so tightly I knew it was going to leave marks on my hands. "Uhh, hi, Fan Ren."

_"GIVE THE PHONE TO ME! Hiii, Sakura. Soo, you got a message for our Little Cutie Wolf brother?"_

"Gngggghhh," I managed into the phone.

"_Gngggghhh?"_Fei Mei's voice got a bit quieter. I presumed she was speaking to Fan Ren. "_Fan, is gngggghhh a Japanese word I don't know??... Are you sure??..."_ It grew louder again. _"Sakura?"_

"Yes?" I managed, feeling hot and sweaty and very much on the spot. How had Syaoran managed to scrawl that note to me four years ago? I was glad I wasn't so much on a tight deadline, but maybe it would have helped.

"_Ohh, you're a little overwhelmed. How cute!"_

"Uhh," I said, "could you, um, tell Syaoran-"

"_Yes?_"

"-that-"

_"Yes??"_

"-that-"

_"Yes??"_

"-that-"

_"Yes??"_

"-I-"

"_Ahuh?"_

"-I-"

"_Ahuh?"_

"-I-"

"_Ahuh?"_

"I'mkindofinlovewithhimbutdon'ttellanyoneelsejusthim," I said, breathing hard.

"_Whaaaaaaaat?"_

"I'mkindofinlovewithhimbutdon'ttellanyoneelsejusthim," I said, breathing hard.

"_Whaaaaaaaat?"_

I sighed, frustrated. "I'mkindofinlovewithhimbutdon'ttellanyoneelsejusthim."

"_Hnnnhhh?_"

"I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM!" I yelled. I heard giggling from the other side of the door. So, not as private as they said, huh.

"_Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttteeee!"_

Yeah. Cute.

I was glowing like a nuclear power station. There was nothing cute about _that_, let me tell you.

Syaoran blushing, on the other hand, is cute. That thought irreverently brought up my memory of four years ago, standing on the ledge, waiting for the world to come back. When Syaoran was blushing, like a nuclear power station, and to cover up my awkwardness because I'd just thought how cute he looked, I'd offered like a dumb ass to jump over.

The next day, he'd written that note, telling me he loved me. _That_ had been his most important feeling. All that time, he'd been in love with me…

I guess it shouldn't have come as a shock to me, as I'd been in love with him for a while too. Since Yukito's talk with me, I'd known, to be honest. But it was a shock. Fei Mei was still babbling down the phone. I managed to stutter a thanks and she hung up so I didn't have to remember how to disconnect.

It was all very well, to be honest. I couldn't even remember how to do _anything_ properly at that precise moment in time. Tomoyo, obviously having been eavesdropping, came in, grinning at me. I stared up at her, dumbfounded.

"Li's sisters are psychotic," I said, firmly.

Tomoyo just laughed.

-----

_Fujitaka_

"You're psychotic too!" I can hear Sakura complaining to Tomoyo as the two come back into the kitchen. We'd taken up residence in there, considering the destruction in the main sitting room.

I'd offered to make pancakes, and Sonomi leapt on it, remembering the pancake sessions I used to put on for her and Nadeshiko, to keep their friendship grounded through our marriage.

"I didn't really mean to eavesdrop," Tomoyo said innocently. "Besides, mother and I had a _great_ idea for a costume while you were in there- OW!"

I ignored the fact that my only daughter had just kicked her best friend in the shin. She'd saved the world a couple of times, by the sounds of things. Some small character flaws like that were allowable in lieu of complete Armageddon after all.

I poured some more of the batter into the hot pan, trying to make them how Sakura likes them. I was so proud of her! Not only to work through such a hard burden, but to do it without telling anyone… Of course it hurt that she didn't know she could come to me, but I knew her mother was looking out for her, and Touya too, and something inside me… I don't know. For the last four years or so I've been feeling different, as if I could protect Sakura too, if she needed it. More so than normally, I mean.

"Oooooh, PANCAKES!" Sakura yelled, and I grinned at her as she flew forwards. I tipped the newly cooked ones onto a plate for her, and she looked at me happily.

"Save some for me!" Tomoyo said, sitting at the table and stealing some of Sonomi's.

I cooked up the rest of the batter as quickly as I could, leaving plenty on the hot plate for seconds and thirds and fourths and grabbing some for myself. Thankfully Sonomi's sweet tooth hasn't changed, and there were all kinds of sauces. I settled for maple syrup, mine and Nadeshiko's favourite pancake staple.

"So how many cards are left to recapture?" Sonomi asked Sakura.

Sakura frowned. I didn't like to see her so unhappy. "Twenty. Plus the eleven that bastard- sorry dad – has."

I laughed inwardly at her.

"But if Sakura gets the majority, the rest may come back to her naturally," Tomoyo said. "Something vaguely like that has happened before."

"I really doubt clone!Li is about to hand them over to me," Sakura said darkly.

"He may not have a choice," Tomoyo said. "Despite what the majority of the Li clan thinks, the cards don't _belong_ to them. They're your friends. They love you as much as you love them."

Sakura seemed happier at that statement. "I do love them, so much. That's why I miss them so much, I guess."

Something in that caused my stomach to rumble. Confusedly I looked around. Having eaten quite a few pancakes, after having had all proper three meals of the day, it couldn't have rumbled because of hunger. Something was happening.

I obviously wasn't the only one to feel it either. Sakura dropped her fork suddenly. It landed with a loud clatter that disrupted our light conversation.

"What is it?" I asked her, feeling my skin shiver. I hadn't felt this way in years, not since that day Nadeshiko had fallen from the tree and landed in my arms _where you were always meant to be, my love._

"You can feel it too?" Sakura asked, her eyes widened. Sonomi and Tomoyo were looking at us like we'd gone mad. For all I knew, we had. I'd never felt an inkling of the magic in my daughter's life, prior to this.

A flash of pink caught in the corner of my gaze, and I turned to the window. Something was there! I dashed to my feet, and grabbed the latch. I turned back to Sakura to make sure I was doing the right thing, completely out of my league, and Sakura's eyes were shining with unrestrained tears.

"The cards," she whispered. Her voice was filled with awe. It struck me, deep inside my heart, and with that power I flung the window open.

Pink energy spiralled past me. I caught rectangular flashes, and then Sakura's hair was standing up as if she was surrounded by a great wind. The pink flash spiralled around her instead, slowing down, solidifying into… the cards.

I counted the reel of them floating around my daughter's head. One, two, three… nineteen, _twenty_!

My heart soared. Don't ask me how, but I knew I was feeling what Sakura was feeling. They'd heard her, somehow, and returned.

Sakura's face was uplifted, bathed in the muted lights of the kitchen. From outside the starlight filtered into the small room.

I inhaled the sudden scent deeply. Peach and cherry blossom. _Nadeshiko_. My lips formed her name. Somehow, somehow, she had something to do with this. I knew it. I just knew it.

Sakura held out her hands, and the cards settled into them, light reflecting from them to cast her face in a soft pink glow. Sakura cried out, and I almost ran to her again, but it was a cry of pure delight.

"They came for me," she whispered, holding them tight to her chest. A flinty determination settled on her radiant face. She lifted her face down, and looked sharply at the window I had opened.

It closed, just from the state of her emotions at that point.

"That was-" Sonomi was flustered. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

I wandered back to the table, and sank to the chair, nodding my agreement.

"They're what makes this whole thing worth it," Sakura said, her voice barely a whisper. We could all hear her, even above the beats of our hearts.

"Love's the key to the test," Tomoyo breathed out, wonderingly. "You can have the strength, but you have to love them too. I suspect even the weakest candidate could still win if their love is stronger."

I glanced at Tomoyo shrewdly. She really was wonderfully observant. "And Sakura is not weak at all," I affirmed.

"Now," Sakura said softly to all the cards in her possession, "we get the rest of you back."

"Tomorrow," I said, breaking the moment. Three faces turned questioningly to me. "You've got to get a good night sleep first."

Sakura's face was priceless. "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" she whined.

"He's right, you know," Tomoyo said mischievously.

"You'll need all your energy for the confrontation," Sonomi added.

Sakura grumped at all of us. "Fine."

"That's my girl," I said, trying to let my pride for her shine through my voice. By the way her face softened, I knew she understood.

-----

_Syaoran_

"I think Tae will have a field day hearing about this."

My fingers clenched at the sight of our teacher and his words, and I moved a step forwards threateningly.

"_Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi_," Mei Ling swore colourfully. I flushed at her words.

Aino held his hands forwards, the palms open, a gesture of openness. I stilled, confused.

"Well, when he eventually gets to hear about this," Aino continued, a grin on his face. I stared at him, perplexed. "I presume you're going to Japan, Li-san?"

For a second I thought he meant mother, and then realised he was referring to _me_. Stunned by the referential honorific, I nodded.

"Could you do me a favour and pass on a message to my daughter while you're there? I've heard from her you've met her. Aino Rikku? She resides in Tomoeda. I'll pass you the address and a note for her before you go." Aino was still smiling. I gaped at him.

"You know Rikku?" I asked, bewildered that _he_ was the father of the girl that had helped me get a message to Sakura four years ago. That means he- he knew that I'd told her, that I loved her- that I'd betrayed the family. And even though he was under the payroll of Tae, he hadn't said anything.

"I'd be a poor father if I didn't know my own daughter," Aino remarked sardonically. "I have been reporting to Tae, as you have no doubt surmised. I shall report and tell him all is fine. It should give you an edge of surprise."

I really didn't know what to say. Everything was too much! I sat with a thump on the chair next to mother's bed, hearing her chuckle at me. I looked at her softly.

"I-" What I meant to say was swallowed by the phone ringing. She Fa had the phone in her hand, ready to dial the airline when Aino had interrupted us, and she lifted the receiver to her ear. "_Wei_"

She Fa suddenly squealed. Loudly.

"Syaoran! It's for you!"

Confused, I took the receiver.

"_Little wolf_!" It was Fei Mei. "_She loves you._"

It took me a moment to register her words and what she meant. Even more stunned then before, I let Mei Ling yank the phone from my limp fingers when it was obvious I couldn't say anything.

"She _does?_" Mei Ling squeaked into the phone.

Dazed, I got to my feet, and pulled the phone from a protesting Mei Ling. I thanked Fei Mei and disconnected, handing the phone back to She Fa to call the airline.

She Fa understood, and started to dial as soon as I gave her it.

"I'm going to pack," I said, sternly. "And then I'm going to get those cards put where they belong."

It was a miracle that I managed to get that sentence out, considering that my heart was singing. I wanted to dance. I wanted to give Sakura the whole world. _She loved me! She loved me like I loved her!_

It was better than the feeling of rediscovering my magic.

"You go get him, brother," Mei Ling said as I turned to go.

I smiled at her, and then grabbed her into an abrupt hug. It was spontaneous, and totally unlike me, and it felt great.

"I will," I promised. "In fact, my whole plan is kind of hinged upon it."

"Brat," she said, fondly.

-----

_Fuu__ Tie_

I busied myself cooking for Tae, even though my skin crawled every time I was near him. He was slumped over the table, a map of the area sprawled across it. The small light indicated when the Syaoran clone was at that particular time.

Normally it had direct paths, chosen by Tae using the Lasin board to direct it to the next Sakura card. This time, however, it was running around Tomoeda in a circular path.

I frowned. This couldn't be good. And Tae was obviously in a really bad mood. To be frank, I was scared of what he would do. Of what he'd already done. Kidnapping. Destruction of property. Cloning my brother without his permission.

Oh, and he was capable of so much worse. Mother had trusted this jerk to our clan's future?? This whole instantly respecting your elders had to stop, and it would. When Syaoran became our clan leader, younger than the rest of us, and so much stronger than we could imagine. He was what we needed to survive.

Tae's phone rang then, interrupting my thoughts of revenge, and I shamelessly eavesdropped, using a smidgen of my own magic to hear both sides of the conversation as I soft-boiled noodles.

"_The brat still has his magic. He and Hiirigizawa saved Yelan, and the boy's headed your way. Tomorrow."_

I cursed inwardly. By brat and boy they must mean Syaoran! _So that's what that blaze I felt earlier was_, I realised. _Syaoran's magic saving mother._

"Aino reported that everything was fine," Tae snapped into the phone. "I shall have to make sure he is amply rewarded for his treachery."

Somehow I got the feeling this was a warning to me, too, but I pretended as if I hadn't heard.

"Never mind," Tae said. "If you can find some way to off the idiot before he arrives, do so. Else, leave him to me."

"_Yes, Tae-san_."

I tried to keep my voice light as I lifted my pan over to the table, starting to serve the dinner. "Something wrong?" I asked, as politely as I could given that I was terrified of my uncle.

"Just an escaped prisoner," Tae said, lying bare-facedly to me. "Nothing to worry about."

But his face spoke differently.

I would not sleep quietly that night.

-----

**Translation notes**

_ Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi_ is Mandarin for _Stupid son of a drooling harlot and a monkey. _All Mandarin courtesy of the Chinese translators of Joss Whedon's _Firefly_, the Pinyin romanization is by Ying from the Firefly Chinese Pinyinary. I don't know if Syaoran is supposed to speak Mandarin or Cantonese, but Mandarin I have access too, and it's funnier. Roll on "Serenity" in September!

No, not Wei Syaoran's butler in Japan. _Wei_ is the current standard telephone "Hello."


	8. Penultimate

**.The Dreams We Left Behind .**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky

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Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_, sometimes this time Sakura's and Tomoyo's fault! Eesh, Syaoran, you're baaaaaaaaad influence. Based on the anime.

**Author's Notes: **Unnh, I think I forgot in this chapter I was writing a serious fic about the consequences of--- Ohhh, who cares. This chapter was FUN to write! A little bit of fluff before the… sniffles end!

Yeah, next chapter I go back to the proper fic. This is just some schmaltz before the action!!!!

_-----_

**Last chapter: **They all figured out Bo Tae sniggers is evil. Syaoran grew up. It was revealed Aino was one of Tae's snitches. Sakura found out Syaoran's sisters are psychotic, and Tomoyo is too. The other 20 cards returned to Sakura when she declared her love for them. Mei Ling swore like River from "Firefly." It turned out that Aino is Rikku's father, and is really a decent person. Syaoran got dizzy learning Sakura loved him too. Fuu Tie, stuck with Tae, got freaked when a household snitch told Tae that Syaoran was on his way...

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**Chapter Eight – Penultimate**

-----

_"Something wrong?" I asked, as politely as I could given that I was terrified of my uncle._

_"Just an escaped prisoner," Tae said, lying bare-facedly to me. "Nothing to worry about."_

_But his face spoke differently._

_I would not sleep quietly that night._

-----

_Sakura_

Today was the day. I could feel it in every part of me. I was going to get the rest of the cards back.

It was a thrilling rush. I knew that Syaoran must now know that I feel the same way about him as he does about me, and that was awesome too.

With that strength I could take on Clone!Li and win. _Wherever you are, Syaoran,_ I called out into the silence, willing my words to reach him, _I'm doing this for us_.

I pushed the heavy covers of the guest bed away from me, and walked over to the window. Sunlight spilled through the glass, and I opened the window, closing my eyes and letting the scents of the morning surround me.

Damn, it was hot, though. Thankfully I wasn't wearing much, and being on the second floor there was a little bit of a breeze through the window.

Refreshed, I turned around to look around the small room. I normally slept in Tomoyo's room on a camp bed when I slept over, but they'd decided I needed a little more peace before my 'big day.' And it's true. If I'd stayed there we would have spent all night talking.

_Probably about Syaoran_, I thought ruefully. A memory of his face flashed before me, and I wondered idly for a moment how he'd changed. I had changed.

I looked over at the full length mirror on the wardrobe in the small room. I was taller than I was when I was fourteen. I was less angles, more curves, but still angular. My hair was longer…

_Syaoran might not recognise me with my hair like this_! Okay, it was an obscure and random thought, but it was suddenly all I could think about. Madly, I started to look in all the drawers for a pair of scissors. Surprisingly I found some. I was about ready to charge down and demand that Tomoyo cut my hair for me, when I caught my reflection again and realised I was in the nightdress that I'd left behind last sleepover.

A yellow, thigh-length cotton nightdress, cute fuzzy penguins, and the word _huggable_ blazoned across my chest. Freaking, I turned to the dresser. Inside was some of my clean underwear, socks a white t-shirt and pink cycle shorts. The underwear and socks were definitely mine, but the shorts and t-shirt weren't.

Dread settled in my stomach. Tomoyo and her mother were probably hunting through the vast collection of battle costumes as I was just stood there, finding something bright and embarrassing for me to face clone!Li in.

_Great.__ Just great. Where's Chiharu's mallet when you need it???_

Knowing I couldn't do anything against a double Daidouji attack, even if I had Chiharu's mallet or could ethically use my magic, I resigned myself to the fact that yet again I would be a walking fuzzy factory again.

Well, anything had to be better than the penguin nightdress.

I put my hand on the bottom to lift it off, and something barrelled into the side of my head.

I squawked unprofessionally, and landed on the bed in a tangle of limbs.

Something as yellow as my nightdress was glaring at me.

I glared right back. "YOU FREAKING PERVE!" I shrieked. "I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GET DRESSED!"

I balled up my fist. Kero looked abruptly scared.

-----

_Fujitaka_

Walking along the corridor to the guest bedroom Sakura stayed in last night, I tried to restrain a laugh. Sonomi and Tomoyo were currently immersed in yards and yards of material in the 'breakfast room'. I'd just taken breakfast orders from both of them, temporarily relegated again to the role of cook, had phoned in all of our excuses to our relative workplaces, and I thought I'd give Sakura a little bit of a sleep in.

Especially considering what she's going to do today.

I didn't want to let her do it. If you're a parent, you'll empathise with me. My kids are the most important people in the world to me. I couldn't bear to lose them. But I have to let them do what they need to do.

Even if it's not as safe as I'd personally like. And whose parent couldn't be failed to be impressed by something as huge as saving the planet?

My son and daughter had both grown up. I was honoured that they both still wanted me so much in their lives.

I wished Nadeshiko had had the same support from her father.

Putting melancholy thoughts aside, I rounded the corner to where Sakura's temporary room was. I heard the window open.

I was so surprised I stood still. I hadn't expected Sakura to wake so early by herself! But I was feeling antsy. This new sympathy with her magic senses was weird, but helpful.

I heard her looking for something, and then heard a thump! I ran down the rest of the corridor to her door, and was about to open it when I heard her telling.

"_YOU FREAKING PERVE! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GET DRESSED_!"

This riled me, and I flung the door open in time for something small and yellow to be smacked through. It hit the wall and slid down into a heap.

I turned to see Sakura, fist upraised, smiling at me.

"Morning, dad," she said cheerfully. I looked back across to the crumpled heap of yellowness. I faintly recognised that yellow teddy bear that, apparently, was the 'guardian of the cards.' I bent and picked it up by the tail. "It's really hot today, isn't it?" She asked, her green eyes flashing with amusement.

"Hey! Leggo of me you big coward! Let me down and fight fair!"

Its small paws were waving comically. I pinched it by the neck and turned it to face me properly.

Kero withered noticeably. "Uh. Hi, sir."

I pointedly ignored it. "Sakura, what would you like for breakfast?"

"BREAKFAST?" Kero shrieked. "I WANT IT! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!"

"Put a _sock_ in it!" Sakura shrieked back. "Uh, what's everyone else having?"

"Eggs," I replied, amused now as the bear tried to look contrite. _This_ was what Clow Reed left to protect the cards? My little girl, my son's boyfriend and a small yellow stuffed _bear_??

If I ever run into this Clow Reed man, he's a dead guy.

"Then I'll have eggs too," Sakura announced. "I love your eggs."

I beamed happily at her. "I'll take this stuffed animal downstairs while you get dressed, sweetheart."

"Okay, dad!" Sakura chirped, turning and closing the doors as I dragged a struggling Kero with me downstairs.

The intercom went as I hit the bottom step. Tomoyo hopped through the door, lengths of ribbon in her hand. I winced for Sakura's sake. Tomoyo hit one of the buttons.

"Who is it?"

She exchanged a look with me as I went to stand beside her. Any long hesitation and we wouldn't answer it.

"Uh, hi Tomoyo," came a familiar shy male voice. Yukito. Or, Yue. I was really starting to get confused as to which was which. "It's me. And Touya."

"Oh, great!" Tomoyo enthused, giggling when she noticed who was still struggling in my grasp. "Come right in!"

I passed Kero to her, and resignedly headed to the kitchen to start on making lots and lots of breakfast. Touya likes all of my cooking, so he wouldn't mind eggs. Yukito, however, would eat anything. As long as there was lots of it.

-----

_Tomoyo_

I let Yukito and Touya in, letting Kero sit on my shoulder as I walked back into the breakfast room, sitting next to mother. She was busy sewing part of the skirt with an intense look of delight. I regretted not being able to tell her earlier. Making the costumes with her would have been a lot of fun.

To be honest, so was all the secrecy of it. It made it more romantic, somehow. And now we could share it!

The delicious smell of scrambled eggs filled the air, and it reminded my how hungry I was. What with the excitement yesterday, I'd missed dinner, and mother and I had been so excited about making her new costume we'd skipped sleeping too, instead talking all night.

I hadn't had a time like this with my mother ever. We were all infected by the magic, I was sure of it.

"Mother and your dad know everything," I told Touya as we settled around the large table. Touya's dark eyes were sombre as he noticed the yards of fabric.

"I know. Yue felt it," he said.

Yukito shuffled a little, sniffing forlornly. "Is your dad making eggs?"

"Sure am," Kinomoto-san called through from the kitchen.

"EGGS?" Kero blathered. I held him down by the scruff of his neck.

"_That's _Keroberus?" Mother exclaimed as I dropped him down on the table and starting sewing again.

"Yeah," I said.

"Right pain in the neck," another voice disgustedly noted. We all looked up to see Sakura standing there, a pair of scissors in her hand. "Are you making _another_ costume??"

"Y-yes," I admitted, edging a little away from her scissors. "But it's going to be _amazing_. We've spent all night on it!"

Sakura waved the scissors a little less at that, although she still eyeballed the fabric warily. "Hmm. Hey, Touya, Yukito."

The siblings exchanged waves while Yukito stared longingly at the kitchen doorframe.

"What's with the scissors?" I eventually asked, stifling a yawn.

"Oh." Sakura was speaking a little more slowly than normal. Probably because of the early morning. I swear, some mornings I've rung her up to make sure she's awake for school (if there's an important exam, or something) and all I get out of her is "ack, ack, ack, ack."

It's a good thing you don't need to be eloquent to be a Card Captor. Or even talkative. I mean, Syaoran sometimes took laconic to a whole new level.

"I need you to cut my hair," Sakura said eventually. I blinked at her. Touya started to snicker.

"About time, kaijou," he muttered.

_WHAM!_

I smirked as Touya landed on his ass, Sakura standing triumphantly above him, fist held high.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"Well," I said, quickly intervening before a mini war could erupt here. I didn't want any more casualties than was strictly necessary, and I could definitely picture Sakura "accidentally" making her new costume an "accidental" casualty in any sibling war that may erupt. "I'm more than happy to, Sakura, you know that. I've been bugging you for the last couple of years. But can I just ask why?"

Sakura collapsed in one of the chairs. "'cause Syaoran won't recognise me with long hair."

"Okay," I said, satisfied with that answer, until I actually thought over what she said. "But, Sakura, Syaoran isn't going to _be_ here!"

Sakura stared at me. "Yeah he is," she said, before stopping. Her face froze, then vaulted. "He is." She sounded a little lost. "I don't know _how_ I know, but-"

I looked at her, concerned. Her emerald-coloured eyes were wide with the knowledge coursing inside her, that she would see Syaoran. After all this time.

I slid my chair closer, and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to me, eyes shining.

"He's on his way, Tomoyo, I can feel him," she whispered. She was so happy. So was I!

"I'm so happy for you," I said, just as softly, and she smiled and hugged me.

I heard my mother sigh, and I pulled back to see mother looking at us both with restrained tears in her eyes.

"Oh, if your mother could see you now," Mother said, sadly. "Your friendship… Oh, she would be so happy."

"She is," Touya broke in gently. We looked across at him questioningly, but he apparently didn't realise he'd spoken. His face had on it a gentle kind of longing that I'd seen on Mother's face sometimes when she was thinking about father.

Bitterness aside from him leaving us, she still loved him.

"My favourite!" Yukito exclaimed.

The moment was absolutely shattered. I turned to look at the gentle man behind whom the power of the moon was made manifest. He was looking in the direction of the kitchen door.

In the doorway, Kinomoto-san was stood, with a huge platter heaped two foot high with scrambled eggs. The smell hit my nostrils. My mouth watered.

"Yeah," Touya broke in sarcastically. "Eggs and lots of it!"

"Yeap," Kinomoto-san said cheerfully. Mother and I exchanged a glance and we dumped the costume material to one side in favour of food.

-----

_Touya_

I concentrated on eating my eggs, and on ignoring my own senses, which were telling me the same thing as Sakura's senses. The brat was indeed on his way back. To be honest, I wasn't quite as mad as I could have been. He loved her, and she – despite my best efforts – loved him too.

I hoped desperately for a happy ending, but there was still- still enough doubt resonating in the world. Yuki could feel it too. He was almost as unsettled as me, except he still had his appetite. Mind you, the day Yuki loses his appetite will be a frightening day indeed.

I knew, as did Sakura, as did dad even if he couldn't comprehend how he knew, that this day had two outcomes. I desperately hoped one of them at least would give my sister the happy ending she deserved.

Even if it was with the brat.

Even if it was wearing that much pink.

-----

_Sakura_

"It's READY!"

I was dreading that yell. After breakfast, I'd gone with dad to the kitchen, focussing on cleaning dishes and just being, well, _normal_.

I looked up at dad with a "puppy dog eyes" expression. Dad just smirked.

"They've gone to so much work for you, Sakura," he pointed out.

I smiled at him for being so dad-like, and flung my arms around him in an impromptu hug. I got soapsuds in my hair, but I didn't care. I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

Even though he was worried for me, his heartbeat was slow. He trusted me to be able to do this. I listened to the reassuring _pat! pat! pat!_ of his heartbeat for another moment before pulling back happily.

"What was that for?" He asked, not sounding unhappy that it had happened.

"For you being you," I said. I was having trouble expressing myself today, but that came out just how I wanted it.

The smile that broke out on his face almost broke my heart. He didn't want to let me go, not really. He wanted to be able to protect me always. Couldn't he see that that's what I wanted too? I wanted him to be safe so badly.

I knew I might never come back from today, and somehow he knew it too. Despite our loud assurance over the last few hours that it would all be right, there was doubt clouding the sky and our hearts.

After all, there would be no need for a Test if the outcome was known beforehand.

"You'll do great, peanut," Dad murmured, touching my cheek with one hand. It was hurting him greatly, but he was going to let me go.

He trusted me that much.

I smiled back, letting my pain and simultaneous joy fill the expression.

"Guess I'd better go and try that layer cake on," I grouched, while he laughed and ruffled my hair.

-----

_Touya_

I meant to laugh. Really, I did. After seeing all those yards of pink fabric, white rustly fabric (that's the technical term, just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm a clothes designer, all right?) and pink ruffles and pink ribbons, I felt sorry for my sister. Trussed up like that for a big battle.

But, I didn't laugh, because she didn't look like a big pink meringue like I'd imagined.

In fact, it could be said, that my little sister was cutting quite a figure.

Whatever that cliché really means.

It was some kind of fairy princess dress that ended just above her knees to give her room for moment. White gauzy material gave the impression of wings. Ribbons trailed out behind her, giving the additional impression that she could fly.

Her cheeks were glowing, probably from the idea of seeing the Li boy again. Tomoyo was currently in the process of heating up some girly hair implement and trimming her hair with the giant pair of scissors Sakura had greeted us all with this morning, and doing a vaguely professional job of it. Sakura was even trying to be still.

"You did a lovely job with the scalloped neckline, Daidouji-san," Yukito complimented.

I glared a withering glare at my boyfriend, who just shrugged at me as if to say _what?_ I glowered a bit longer. "You're doing nothing for our stereotype," I growled at him.

He just scrunched his nose up, and ignored me. I hate it when he does that. He makes it hard for me to be mad at him! Grrrr.

-----

_Sakura_

I could almost taste the pressure now. We all knew the deadline for me to fight clone!Li was looming, even if we don't know exactly when it would be.

It also doesn't help that I suspected Kero had gotten into the coffee jar at home. He's no help.

"Follow your senses!" Kero yelled, flinging a spoon around as if he was conducting me with it. "And bring home the sugar!!!!"

Uh, yeah. Thanks, guardian beast, you're doing a swell job of calming the Card Mistress down. NOT!!!

But that follow your senses thing was, perhaps, not bad advice. My skin had just started to tingle, but that could be just from the itchy fabric. I decided not to risk it. We had all day, after all.

"Right, guys," I said, trying to sound calm, although inside I was juddering like a roller coaster. "I think it's time to go. Keroberus, Yue, I need you."

I don't know why I was being so formal. Just the tense mood demanded it, I suppose. Yukito nodded, and his bright wings flung into the air, encompassing Yukito within them and bringing Yue out.

Kero smirked a little and twisted in the air, his wings shining golden as he made the change into his full form. Daidouji-san and dad both looked a little shocked, although Touya was just tutting really at Kero's proper form.

I was glad I had recovered the elemental cards so I could have their full support. I didn't know if I could have done this without them. Any of it.

"Kero, behave!" I snapped, after Kero started to sniff at dad's leg. Dad looked a little freaked at what the "stuffed animal" could turn into. I, however, was just glad that he'd managed to transform without destroying a helpless piece of furniture. "I guess we should just head out, and see if we can attract some trouble like this," I said.

"Nooooooo you don't!"

I turned at the sound of the crazed voice saying that, only to be singed by something really hot!

"OWWWW!" I shrieked at Tomoyo. "What do you think you're doing??"

"I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF CURLING YOUR HAIR, FREAK," Tomoyo shrieked back. "YOU CAN'T RESCUE THE CARDS WITH YOUR HAIR LIKE IT IS! STAND THERE UNTIL I'VE FINISHED CURLING IT OR I'LL FEED KERO MORE SUGAR!"

Everyone but me (obviously) edged away. Apparently the lack of sleep doesn't do Tomoyo any good at all. But it solved the hyper!Kero problem. Sugar. The bane of my existence, probably. But if it was the root of all evil, _I _wasn't going to be the one to suggest outlawing it. Dad's desserts were too scrummy for _that_ travesty.

I stood impatiently as Tomoyo scorched my hair with the evil device she was waving around. It was hard to stand still! Syaoran was getting closer, I could feel it! My skin was singing his frequency. That's the only way I could explain it to myself.

I knew he was close, and my body was resonating to the proximity.

I knew, right then, that I was very possibly going to explode if- oh, _when_- I finally got to see him.

"I thought you were going to cut it," I demanded irritably as Tomoyo ran like a demon around me.

"No, _you_ wanted me to cut it. _I_ wanted to curl it first and see if I really needed to cut it," Tomoyo said slowly, as if she was talking to someone stupid.

My heckles rose, and my common sense started to work as soon as I had the impulse to hit her. _Wait until AFTER she's not holding the burning hot stick thing_.

I looked over at Yue for approval, only to see Touya murmuring something to him that was making him blush. Huh. Then Touya leant over and kissed Yue on the cheek, which made Yue glow like a nuclear power station.

I looked away smugly, glad that I wasn't the only one that blushed that hard.

Tomoyo stepped back after an eternity, but was still holding the hot hair curler, as if sensing my desire to hurt, maim, kill.

"There! Isn't it _perfect_?" She gushed.

"Huh," Touya managed. He was the only one who spoke. I started to jump up and down on the spot, antsy. "Um. Good thing you didn't cut your hair, squirt."

I frowned at him. Tomoyo ran for a mirror, and then held it up.

Huh, indeed. I looked, well, the most unlike me I've ever been, and yet exactly like me. A grown up me.

I looked up at dad for approval, and he was almost crying. I ran and hugged him again, and when I finally left the house, with Yue and Kero flanking me, I could still feel his arms on my shoulders.

-----

_Syaoran_

I have never been so antsy on a 'plane before in my life.

I didn't even realise there was foot tapping going on until this really fat guy leaned over, and in a very peanut-y breath hissed "_stop the jig, Astaire_."

I stopped, staring in bewilderment at my feet, feeling very pleased that I didn't have a nut allergy. Dying just an half hour away from Tomoeda would have been embarrassing, to say the least.

Half an hour. Half an _hour_. I was thirty minutes away from the girl who was in love with me, if that was true what my sister's said, and oh if it _wasn't_, there was going to be a worse slaughter than Ken dolls being put in the microwave, I can tell you.

It wasn't even an issue that I'd got up early in the morning either. For once, it didn't bother me. I was going back to Tomoeda, to exactly where I belonged.

With Sakura.

That's only if I could get my crazy uncle out of the way first. And make sure Sakura got all the cards back. Oh, and not die from sheer embarrassment or emotion overload just from getting hear her.

My fingers tingled, and I lifted them up to look at them carefully. Magic was coursing through me. This day was going to be a hard battle, I could feel it. _It's not fair_, I pleaded internally to the Gods. _Why must Sakura be put through all this?_

_Because she's the only one who can do it_, the reply came back. It sounded almost like Mei Ling. I settled back in the chair, impatiently looking through the window, down at the world below. There were worse things than having Mei Ling's voice as your voice of wisdom.

I'd just started to drift off to sleep, when I felt it.

Doom thrilled down my spine, and I shot straight upright with a strangled gasp. Peanut guy was glaring at me, but I didn't care at all. Sakura, wherever she was, was in major trouble.

Maybe even now I was too late.

-----

_Sakura_

I've never been very good at looking where I was going. I guess that's why Eriol managed to get me with so many of his sneaky underhand tricks. _Like falling sheep_, I reflected sourly.

Instincts, however, had rarely led me wrong. Although, considering where my instincts had led us, I was wondering if events were just plain repeating themselves.

I looked up at the structure, remembering my dreams when I first became a Card Captor. It was where I'd first seen Syaoran. _First fell in love with him, you mean_, something inside me said. That startled me. _Then?_ I thought wildly, but on closer reflection, I knew it was true.

I'd been drawn to that mysterious figure even from his first appearance in my dreams. I'd loved him from the moment he'd glowered at me in the classroom. It wasn't something I could name, because it wasn't something I could even explain, or know that it was happening.

"Tokyo tower," Keroberus intoned solemnly, looking at me with his flashing golden eyes.

"I just sensed we should be here," I said lamely, looking at my two closest companions in the world. Tomoyo was my best friend, but even our relationship was a human connection. Keroberus, Yue and I were connected by magic. By blood.

"I concur," Yue agreed, his deep voice sounding troubled. "I-"

I never did get to hear what he was going to say. I caught a brief glimpse of brown eyes, a harsh glare, a flash of clone!Li's aura which I hadn't sensed so far, and then everything, as usual for me, went black.

-----

_Fujitaka_

Touya was pacing. Sonomi was snoring, her head amongst the yards of fabric. I sat there, staring silently into space. This was my first time, really, as one of the ones left behind. The first time I _knew_ my daughter was in danger while I was sat there doing nothing.

Tomoyo started to bite her fingernails.

"Isn't there something we can do to help?" Touya demanded irritably.

"We haven't got any magic," Tomoyo said, reasonably. "Only Syaoran can give her any extra help now against clone!Li. That is if he's really coming."

"That's it!" I looked at Touya's suddenly aware face, and was struck by how similar he was to his mother. Whenever Nadeshiko had a 'eureka!' moment, she had exactly the same expression. "The airline. We'll see if he's booked onto a seat. You've got a computer hooked up to the internet, right?"

Tomoyo nodded, her blue eyes alight with recognition. "Yeah. I'll go get it."

She was back in a minute with a silver notebook and sat phone. I manoeuvred my chair in closer to see them setting it up. Touya's fingers started to fly over the keyboard. I literally felt my mouth hit the floor as he got into the main database of the local airport to see which flights were due in.

Touya looked at me sheepishly while one of the pages loaded.

I looked at him shrewdly. "Was this one of the things you learned while in your year of rebellion at college?"

Touya nodded. "About the same time as my extinguisher liberation," he muttered, looking back at the screen. I could see that he was just as upset and worried about Sakura as the rest of us.

"She'll be okay," I said lowly to him, touching his elbow to get his attention. "She has our support, and she has that stuffed animal and Yukito. She'll be fine."

"Yeah," Touya said. "This screen says that a flight from Hong Kong is due to land in twelve minutes, and- _yes_. A Li Syaoran is listed as one of its passengers."

We shared an excited look. _Eureka_ indeed!

"We can go to the airport!" Tomoyo said, excited. "Pick him up and drive him to where he needs to be."

"Yeah," Touya said, sarcastically, even as he was picking up his jacket and we started to head towards the door. "We're a taxi service for the brat."

We headed almost silently after that to my car which was still outside, and we all slung our jackets into the boot. It really _was_ hot.

Tomoyo settled into the back, and I climbed into the driver's seat. If the clock was right, it was now ten minutes until this Li Syaoran, the boy who had stolen my daughter's heart, was due to arrive at the airport.

I gunned the engine, and I sped us away as fast as the car would go.

The roads were remarkably clear. Despite the short time, we nearly made it.

Of course, as sod's law would definitely have it, about half a mile from the airport something slammed into us, and we were forced off the road with such an impact that the world went black and I remembered nothing more.

-----

**To Be Continued in Chapter Nine "Separating Hope."**

**-----**


	9. Separating Hope

**.The Dreams We Left Behind .**

A _Card Captor Sakura_ fic by Melissa Ordesky

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**Disclaimer**: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me. Duh. PG-13 for _bad words_. Based on the anime. Faith Hill's "There You'll Be" does not belong to me, and is, as you will see at the end, the theme song of this fanfic.

**Thank you: **to all the reviewers. And to the lovely reviewers who thought I deserved more reviews: it's not a bad thing only getting a few! It means I can cherish them more.

**Author's Notes: **I've gotten all serious again. Sigh. But it's DRAMA! EXPLOSIONS! EMOTIONS! Lights, camera, ACTION!

It's the END! I could cry. I've never finished a multi-chaptered fic before, aren't you all proud of me?

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**Last chapter: **was very mental indeed. Sakura felt that this was the day she was going to see Syaoran! Kero was a pervert, high on sugar. Fujitaka made eggs (by cooking them, not by laying them). Sakura wanted her hair cutting. Sonomi and Tomoyo made Sakura a kick-ass new costume. Yukito was very gay for a moment. Touya was grouchy. They all figured out the Test could go either way, and were all summarily freaked out. Yue glowed like a nuclear power factory. Syaoran tapdanced on the aeroplane. Sakura, at Tokyo Tower, fell unconscious again. Fujitaka, Tomoyo and Touya wanted to help. Touya hacked the planet. Fujitaka, Tomoyo and Touya rushed to the airport in Fujitaka's car, only to be knocked from the road…

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**Chapter Nine**

**Separating Hope**

**-----**

_I gunned the engine, and I sped us away as fast as the car would go._

_The roads were remarkably clear. Despite the short time, we nearly made it._

_Of course, as sod's law would definitely have it, about half a mile from the airport something slammed into us, and we were forced off the road with such an impact that the world went black and I remembered nothing more._

**-----**

_Syaoran_

As soon as I got past all the airport security, I grabbed my bag and started to run. I could feel the disturbance, thrumming in my fingertips. I slammed past tourists and families waiting for their loved ones to return. I may have even knocked some over.

I didn't care.

Sakura was in danger and she needed my help.

Bursting out of the glass doors, the same doors I had walked through in the other direction to a false imprisonment of four years, I stumbled into the large car park, looking around wildly.

I had only been to the airport a couple of times, and Wei had driven me every time. I had no idea where I was or how to get anywhere, and I'd had no time to get any currency converted.

_Crapitcrapitcrapitcrapitcrapitcrapitcrapit, _I thought, articulately. The babbling never stops, not even in a dire emergency. Then I saw something that made my throat clamp up.

_Smoke_. It was hot, that was to be sure, with the sun scorching down on the pavement and turquoise blue skies stretching to eternity, devoid of even clothes. But not hot enough to cause a fire, was it?

I knew it wasn't Sakura, but something was dragging me full force towards that smoke. Running full pelt, I dodged several cars and rolled over one idiotic driver's car when he came round a corner too first.

I heard the curses being yelled behind me, but I couldn't stop. I knew time was of the essence, for everyone involved.

Staggering around the corner, having barely gotten my earth-legs back yet (Mei Ling's term, her reckoning being that if you can have sea legs for when you've perfected walking on a boat, then you can damn well have air legs and earth legs too), I ran up the grassy embankment and froze in horror for a second.

I knew that car.

I'd seen that car a hundred times parked in the Kinomoto's driveway.

My heart pounding in my ears, I ran up to the car, on its side. Two cars had stopped. It had obviously just happened.

"HELP ME!" I yelled to the drivers of the cars that had stopped. Thankfully they were both huge guys, and they ran down the embankment. Together we gingerly lifted the car down onto its wheels, and I could barely get myself to look.

I did look, though, and it wasn't too bad. _Thank god for seatbelts and airbags,_ I thought abruptly, sharing a relieved look with the two guys who'd helped me.

As I was closest to the side Touya was sat in, I jerked open his door first. Groaning, he snapped open one eye and looked at me in surprise.

"Brat!" He choked out, then cocked one eyebrow. "It's- it's the real you, isn't it?"

I nodded, then realised what he'd said. "Real me?"

"Yeah, there's been a psychotic clone of you running around," Touya grumbled, and then started. "Dad! Tomoyo!"

He twisted in his seat to look at his dad. Kinomoto Fujitaka was looking a little dazed, a little concussed.

"I'm all right, I think," Fujitaka said. "Tomoyo?"

A groan came from the back of the car. Panicking I ran around to the side. I hadn't even noticed Tomoyo was there. I yanked the door open and scrambled into the car, undoing her seatbelt and pulling her round to face me, to check for injuries.

There was a cut on her forehead, and she'd have a pretty collection of bruises to go along with it. I decided to check to see if she did have a concussion.

"Tomoyo," I said. "What's your mother's name?"

"Gngh," Tomoyo managed. "Ungh, Daidouji Sonomi."

"And yours?"

"Daidouji Tomoyo," she slurred, pushing herself backwards and wincing. I saw why she winced. Her arm was at a weird angle.

I winced in sympathy. "Hold still," I said. "This might hurt."

Quickly checking the people outside couldn't clearly see what I was doing, I held my hands over her and performed a smaller version of the healing magic I had used on my mother. I pulled her arm straight, causing her to howl, and then used my magic to knot her bones back together.

It was clumsy, but it would save her a few painful months of recuperation.

"It's really you," Tomoyo whispered, then her blue eyes widened in horror. "Sakura, she- there's a clone version of you running about, and-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Something blasted the car, skidding us several feet to the side.

I instantly knew who it was. "Everyone, get out!" I yelled.

We scrambled out of the car, and assembled behind it. I peered around the boot, seeing my uncle standing there, in full ceremonial garb, brandishing my sword.

"You have been a thorn in everyone's sides too long, boy," Tae snarled, doing his Genghis Khan impression again. His eyes narrowed, and he raised my sword. I instantly realised exactly what he was doing as he lifted up one scroll paper I recognised. _Lightning_.

I countered with the fastest spell I could think of, fire. The first attack spell I'd ever learned, and still the most powerful. I brought my arms up, slashing the word for _fire_ on an ersatz parchment in the air. I fuelled it with all the fury I felt, with all the restrained emotions in my heart.

Our spells collided in mid-air, scorching the dry ground even further. The very temperature of the air rose tremendously. I was sweating, but I still kept my arms up, the torrent of fire spilling forth.

Then I was faintly aware of a hand, tight on my arm. I didn't have to look, I knew it was Touya, lending me the small magic he had slowly regained over the years. Then it was Tomoyo's hand, no magic, but a tumult of emotions I could tap into.

It still wasn't enough. Tae still had my mother's power somehow, and probably more from some of the other clan Elders. I thought I was going to lose, die in a spectacular combustion of two energies, when Fujitaka placed his hand on my arm too.

Not even the combined Li strength could compete with Clow Reed's power, however suppressed it was.

Tae screamed and howled, throwing down my sword as it became too hot, conducting my fire and the last dregs of his electricity. I stopped my spell as soon as his failed, and I stepped out from behind the car menacingly.

"It doesn't matter, boy," he sniffed. "My clone of you already has your precious card mistress, and he won't treat her kindly. And you'll never find her. Not in time before our final showdown. Not before we rip her to shreds for the cards in her possession."

Before I could trap him, he whipped something out of one of his voluminous pockets, and disappeared.

"Oh god, oh god," Tomoyo muttered, holding one hand to the cut on her forehead.

"Touya, take Tomoyo to the hospital," I ordered. Touya nodded, not even protesting against an order from me. I turned to Kinomoto-san. "It may be best if you go with them while I try and find Sakura."

"Not a chance," Fujitaka responded, his eyes hard. "I've been kept out of this part of her life long enough. If there's a small chance I can do anything, I want to do it."

I nodded, recognising in him a familiar stubbornness. "Fine then. Touya?"

Touya jerked his head at me, and started to lead Tomoyo away.

Fujitaka turned towards me, fire and lightning in his face, brutal force dancing like a butterfly in his eyes. He reached forward, almost stumbling on the scorched landscape, his hand moving as if to clasp my shoulder in thanks but jerking away before it got there. "Thank you," he said instead, gratefulness evident on his impassioned face. Worry for Sakura stared back at me palpably in his expression, like a mirror. "That was some use of magic. Who _are_ you?"

I blinked at him, running one dirt-smeared hand through my hair abruptly, pushing the strands out of my eyes. He obviously didn't recognise me from the few times he'd met me four years ago. "Er... Li Syaoran, sir. The..." I floundered for the words. "Um, the good one."

A muscle in his forehead jumped and I resisted the sudden instinct that was telling me to get out of the way. "Li Syaoran, hm?" He said, finally, as if the words were hard to say.

"Yes," I said fearfully. He was glaring at me as if trying to size me up. Whatever he saw must have satisfied him because all the tension in his posture dissipated.

"We need to find Sakura," Fujitaka said, his voice more of a murmur which caught well on the hot breeze, travelling to my very alert ears. "Where would a final showdown take place?"

I frowned, my eyebrows knotting tightly as I thought. "Twice things have happened at Tokyo tower, once at the old clock tower..." I looked helplessly across at Sakura's father. He seemed younger than before, bright-eyed from having fought and survived. He just nodded at me. "You- you don't look surprised that I know."

Fujitaka actually laughed, but it sounded brittle, like it could break easily. I sympathized. My nerves were pretty much in the same mangled state. "Sakura has spoken much of you recently." Despite my practice not to, and my self resolve, a heated blush instantly and thoroughly blazed like wildfire across my cheeks. "With that same reaction, too." He reached forwards this time and did clamp one hand on my shoulder. "Think. Feel. You know this side of Sakura better than I have had chance to."

I nodded. Padding over to where Tae had dropped my sword, I knelt on the ground with my hands clasped around the handle. I closed my eyes, feeling the hot air scorch my eyelids and made me feel even sweatier and dirtier than I already was. I forced these trivial mundane matters out of my head and focussed on what truly mattered.

'_Sakura_.'

Images from my memory danced tantalizingly in front of me, coming to life. Motionless limbs stretched forwards, towards me. _'You're failing me, Syaoran. You're failing me, because it's all your fault you can't find me. Your uncle will devastate this world with the power of the cards, and I will die at his hands, and it's all. Your. Fault.'_

"**NO! I WILL NOT BELIEVE THAT!"**

I was faintly aware that I had yelled the words out loud, that my body was shaking, that Fujitaka's hands were strong on my shoulders, keeping me still. The pain did not matter. _She_ mattered. I reached out with my unseeing eyes, letting the magic take me. The familiar refrain of _magic! You can still do magic! It's still there, you are not dead! Magic! _coursed through my veins, making every neuron, every cell of my body dance around in celebration. Adrenaline followed this chorus, and I swept across Tomoeda on a mass of my own magic. The scent of cherry blossom, strong, guided my search, and I rushed on the indefinite wings as fast as I could. I got a faraway glimpse of an upright structure, metal arms twisting up out the ground to meld together in a frantic prayer, rigid and upright.

"**Tokyo tower**," I gasped, the words burning my throat, setting it on fire. I coughed and brought myself out of my trance. I looked up at Fujitaka with wild eyes that were not me. "She's at Tokyo Tower." Launching myself up, I slammed the sword into its holder and swiftly tied it around myself. Fishing out one of the handy pieces of paper with the incantations written on, I grabbed Sakura's father around his waist before he could stop me. "**WIND SUMMONS!"**

He let out a yell as I took a running leap with him and jumped off the cliff. The wind I had summoned surrounded us, supported our weight and started pulling us with the speed of a gale to our destination.

_'Hang on Sakura. We're coming.'_

-----

_Sakura_

Gnnnggggghhhhhuuuuurrrrr…

_Ahah__! Eloquence!_ I held my head and tried to open my eyes. The world span dizzyingly in front of me. In fact, it was almost as if I was flying, up in the sky, viewing the whole world like a bird or an astronaut would…

…_gnngggh_.

Or like an eighteen year-old who has been knocked unconscious and left stranded up Tokyo Tower.

I looked around. I was sat on one of the wider metal parts of the structure. Neither Keroberus nor Yue were up here with me. But there was someone with me.

Cold amber eyes flashed at me.

Clone!Li.

"Card bitch," Clone!Li greeted.

I squinted at me, and refrained from answering. I was, of course, far superior than him and didn't need to deign to reply.

"Your silence tells me you agree with your slut status, whore," he said.

I told him then exactly what he thought of him, and exactly where he could insert the bits of his body I planned to hack off. Of course, he didn't have to know that I'd have my eyes closed the whole time and would be hacking bits off randomly.

Clone!Li just smirked, as if I'd just let him win that round of the game.

_Although if this was marketed as a board game, it would be a really demented one,_ I reflected. I wondered if this was my concussion thinking for me. _Like hungry, hungry hippos but on speed_. Yup, definitely my concussion thinking.

I let my concussion speak for me awhile instead. "What? Cat got your tongue?" I taunted. "Want me to rip it out for you?"

I struggled to my feet. Clone!Li looked at me coldly.

"I'm sure you would enjoy that," he said.

"Who are you anyway?" I demanded. "You might as well tell me. We're at a standoff anyway. You have cards, I have more cards, and I'm not going to give you mine."

Clone!Li smiled evilly. "I'm Li Syaoran, Kinomoto. I really am he. I'm sorry if I gave you the illusion of friendship before. I was weak, I now am strong. And you will give me those cards, or I will rip them from your lifeless hands."

"My _remarkably attractive_ lifeless hands," I amended for him, trying to keep him a little off-balance.

It worked, to my surprise. Clone!Li looked gobsmacked for a moment. That's when it hit me. This thing was a total puppet. It probably wasn't _anyone_, just some kind of false look-a-like.

"You're wrong," Clone!Li eventually said. "I enjoy it when you're wrong."

"Oh yeah?" I said, almost belligerently. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a forcefield of some kind on the ground, and I would bet my life's savings that it was Keroberus and Yue inside of it. Although what you would do with ¥100 is way beyond me. "How am I wrong, then?"

"I do not have the cards," Clone!Li said, smirking.

I stared at him, perplexed. Well, that obviously meant whomever was controlling him had them, instead, and that Clone!Li really was a robot.

I sighed, knowing the question needed to be asked. "All right," I said. "Who does?"

"I do," Clone!Li said back, confusing the hell out of me.

An awareness had crept into his glassy brown eyes, and I think I sort of understood. Whoever was controlling the clone didn't always _control_ him. He was put on auto pilot most of the time, but now- now the controller was back.

I shivered, and turned around on the beam. Working purely on instinct, I pulled my key out. "Key that uses the power of the stars!" I yelled. "Appear before me in your true form. Sakura, the one with the contract with you, commands it!"

Just in time I slid the Shield out of my pocket, activating it as quickly as I could. A barrier of light flashed up around me just in time, stopping the fire lancing through the air from knocking me off my rather precarious perch.

I twisted to see clone!Li smirking at me. Fury fuelled me. I pulled out the Windy, unable to see _who_ was attacking me. I directed the Wind with my staff to blow away the fire.

A moustached freak glowered up at me, with narrowed eyes. He kind of looked like Genghis Khan, but older, and smaller.

"You're Syaoran's uncle," I called out, remembering what clone!Li had said in our last confrontation.

"Genetically only," the man snapped, raising up his arms and flinging out one of the pieces of parchment Syaoran had always used. "WIND!"

I only had time to grab the Jump card, before his wind knocked me and clone!Li off our precarious perch. I landed gently on the ground, jumping out of the way as his wind swirled towards me again, whistling through the air furiously.

I flicked through the cards I had left quickly. "EARTHY!" The ground rumbled beneath us, and arched a stone arrow towards Syaoran's uncle, who flung out both palms, creating a similar forcefield around him.

"ARROW CARD!" Syaoran's uncle yelled. Blue energy arrows spilled at me, and I cartwheeled and jumped out of the way. However, I had forgotten clone!Li. I jumped to avoid a barrage of arrows, only for a leg to shoot out and knock me into one of the more stray arrows.

I fell to the ground, clasping my arm. Blood ran down my skin, warm, and the pain blurred my vision. I clung tightly onto the staff, my feet wavering as I got to my feet again. I dispelled the Jump, and the Earthy, and pulled out the Shield again.

It protected me for a little while, but it was drawing on my energy. I could feel myself growing weaker under the onslaught of arrows and the gradual usage of my power by the card.

"Sakura!" "SAKURA!"

I could hear Yue and Keroberus yelling, and I clenched my fists. I grabbed the Fight card, ready to let it loose to distract clone!Li while I went after Syaoran's uncle.

The Shield flickered, and in horror I realised Syaoran's uncle had let loose even more arrows from the Arrow card. I could see them speeding towards me, and I just froze, I couldn't do anything.

That's when I felt something inside me literally shiver, and something knocked me to the ground, saving me.

I looked up to thank my saviour, and my breath caught in my throat. Warm amber eyes met my own.

My heart leapt. "Syaoran!"

-----

_Syaoran_

I don't think I'd ever used so much power in one go ever before. Fujitaka and I landed about fifty metres away from Tokyo Tower, just in time for us to see Tae launching the Arrow card at her.

I yelled when she got hit, instinctively drawing my sword, only for Fujitaka to stop me with one hand on my arm.

"Be careful," he said, his eyes wide with worry. He knew he would not be any good in the fight.

I nodded. "I will."

I grabbed my sword in the traditional handgrip; realising Sakura was in deep trouble. Her shield was fluctuating!

I saw Tae wave his hand lazily, getting the Arrow card to throw another perilous barrage of energy darts at her. I just ran, dodging past a figure with brown hair and slamming into her. I winced as she fell and I fell on top of her, knowing I'd caused her more pain from her injury, but knowing I had to do it. She looked up at me, startled.

"Syaoran!"

I nodded, but there wasn't time to talk just then. The brown hair figure I'd dodged past was looming. We scrambled to our feet, me instinctively holding Sakura protectively, my arms holding hers.

The brown figure looked – well, like me, really. _This must be the psychotic clone the others mentioned_, I mused, feeling everything inside me prickle. My skin was singing Sakura's name, though, overcoming the dread.

"I'll distract the clone," I hissed at Sakura, as she nodded. "You go after Tae."

"Agreed," Sakura said. "On three. On, two, THREE!"

We split apart, and I dived into a roll as clone!me slammed his sword, a poor replica of my own, at me. I lifted up my own sword as I landed on my feet, kicking up dust as I went. Our swords clashed heatedly, and a swirl of magic sped over to my fake counterpart.

I slashed faster with my sword, even through the swirl of magic, but the only yield that achieved was the sound of ripping material. I'd slashed through the

Then I realised what Tae had done!

Clone!me now looked identical to me.

My guess at what Tae's plan would now be was confirmed when a huge bolt of energy flew in our direction, tumbling the swords out of our hands and knocking us both to the ground.

-----

_Sakura_

I realised Syaoran's uncle – Tae – was up to something sneaky, but I was too busy fighting my own cards being used against me! It was when he flung up a forcefield of his own that I got worried.

I blasted him a few times with Firey, but to no avail. Tae was chuckling like a half-cocked lunatic on acid, make no mistake about that. I twisted my head to see what he was looking at.

Two identical Syaorans. Each separated by an energy wall too.

I made some sort of throat-y gargling sound, realising what the moron was up to.

"I will make no advance, nor let the clone hurt you," Tae said, his voice booming. "You may have the time to destroy it." I looked back in time for him to smirk. "Of course, if you destroy the wrong one… I know you have feelings for him. It's hard to have feelings for a corpse."

I rolled my eyes and looked back at the two Syaorans. I closed my eyes for a second and felt… _nothing_.

Damn the man to hell! He'd put up some kind of aura dampening shield up too. I squinted at them, and- the one on the left had less injuries, but the right sleeve was slashed open, revealing… a completely bare arm.

No birthmark.

_Hah, clone!Li_, I thought triumphantly. _Not such a perfect clone are you?_

Of course, I had a plan, and needed more time.

I decided to prevaricate a little.

"All right," I said, surreptitiously trying to find the card I needed, "on the list of _four _things you secretly scribbled moments before leaving for Hong Kong, which one did you mean the most?"

Clone!Li, for it was definitely he, narrowed his eyes a little, while Syaoran just looked amused. He'd obviously figured out I knew which was which.

"Number four, of course," Clone!Li said quickly, hoping a swift answer would work, and – as I had hoped – he'd fallen for the idea of saving the best thing until last.

Syaoran smiled like sunshine at me, seeing my hand in my card pouch, and trying to take the attention onto him. "The list I wrote telling you the test was coming?" Syaoran called out mockingly. Behind us, Tae hissed. "It was only three things. And-" His face crinkled into a smile. "Number three. Until the day I die. Number three."

Clone!Li had barely enough time to even step back in anger, when I moved my plan into action. Firstly, I took out the Freeze. I started to run towards Syaoran, activating the Freeze as I went, freezing clone!Li to the spot.

I skidded into Syaoran's arms again, and he put his sword up, tracing a symbol onto the air and slamming up some kind of energy barrier as I frantically rooted out the card I needed.

I exchanged a long, worried glance with him as I held it up.

_The Hope_.

I found strength in his eyes even through the worry we both felt. If I was to get all the cards back, this was the only way.  
The only way.

"If I lose my love for you," I said, as bravely as I could manage, "I'll just have to fall in love with you again."

He was crying. So was I. Our gazes held even as he fought to keep up the barrier. We were so close now. "I love you," he breathed, his voice ghosting over my cheek. I grabbed onto that and held his love for me out in front of me, like a banner.

I gritted my teeth.

I threw the Hope card into the air.

I swung my staff and yelled the words I hoped I would never have to utter in my life.

"HOPE CARD! REVERT TO YOUR POWER UNCONFINED! UNSEAL!"

-----

_Syaoran_

I let the shield evaporate. No one was paying any attention to us now, anyway, only to the energy amassing in the air in front of us. A green haired girl, beautiful in a haunting way, emerged into the air.

The girl threw a curtsey at Sakura, knowing exactly what she was needed for. Sakura held out her cards in a fan, and they sped towards the Emptiness, spinning around her in a pink glow. Sakura's face was pinched with the exertion, and I began to feel the same worry as last time. Perhaps- perhaps- perhaps it would be me that lost my most important feeling.

I shook that thought away angrily. This was no time to be selfish and think about me!

Tae looked surprised, and I treasured that expression with glee, filing it away for future reference. It was sheer payback for the years of hell he put me through. He brought up his arms to create another forcefield, but the cards he had captured slipped through the forcefield, crashing through the air to join the Emptiness.

All fifty-two cards fanned around her.

Tae tried to throw more energy bolts at her, but she smashed them back at him, leaving him in an unconscious heap on the ground.

The Emptiness floated down to us, the cards spinning around her returning to Sakura's hand. Sakura nodded in thanks, curtseying to her, her beautiful green eyes wet with emotion.

I wished for anything to stop Sakura feeling the anguish she was feeling right then.

This was different to last time. The Emptiness wanted to be changed back, and this time could feel her Mistress' pain. The Emptiness stepped forwards…

…and then turned to me.

Sakura cried out. "NO!"  
She pulled me around to face her. Grime ran down one cheek, and her longer auburn hair flared in the sunshine. Her eyes were still shining with unshed tears. I'd never seen anything more beautiful in my life.

I reached up one hand to cup her cheek, my eyes trained on hers, and slowly, for probably the first and last time, I brushed my lips over hers.

She collapsed against me, and the kiss took on an urgency and emotion that I'd never felt before. She trembled in my arms as the kiss deepened. Even as we reluctantly parted, I could still feel the heat, could still taste her.

She tasted of strawberries.

Unflinchingly, I turned to the Emptiness, who looked so sorrowful.

With eyes still shining, Sakura brought up the star staff.

"Return to your star form, Sakura card!" She screamed, howling her defiance to the whole universe. This time we would have no mysterious card to save us, only…

_Of course_! Why didn't I think of it before?

I had lived without magic once, and survived. With Sakura by my side, it would make it more bearable…

Even as the energy swirled around the Emptiness, transforming her, I lifted forwards my palms and used the same technique I'd used to help heal my mother – a power transfer.  
Power flooded through my hands in its purest form, screaming out of me, landing into Tae's motionless body.

The Emptiness, before she disappeared completely, glanced at me in surprise and grinned widely. She span, and energy started to whirl out of Tae before solidifying into a pink rectangle that flew back into Sakura's trembling hands.

Eyes wide, she turned to me. The Hope was nestled back in her hands, where they'd meant to be. Weakened horribly, I fell to the ground, and she fell with me.

"Syaoran," she whispered, brokenly. "What did you do?"

"It takes the most important feeling of the one with the most power," I explained fervently.

"You idiot!" I looked up in shock to see Sakura sobbing, grasping my arms feverishly. She started to kiss my face, feather-light kisses across my cheek, my chin, my mouth. My heart soared as my lips touched hers and we kissed like the world was going to end again.

Only it wasn't. This was real, and here, and now, and I didn't know what the hell I'd done to deserve such a utopia.

We drew apart. Sakura took deep shuddering breaths, leaning her forehead against mine.

"You could have warned me," she murmured, only slightly disgruntled.

"I only thought of it then," I said, "else I would have."

Her eyes widened and she moved back, but not out of the safe circle of my arms. "But Syaoran, your magic!"

I shrugged. "Sakura, I lived four years thinking my magic gone, and all that was painful to me was that you weren't there. Besides, Touya gave up his magic for Yukito, and his is slowly returning. Maybe one day…" I trailed off with a shrug.

"Actually, it doesn't work like that," a deep voice said, and we broke apart, startled, to see Yue and Keroberus standing over us. Both were smiling deeply, though, especially as Sakura blushed furiously realising what we'd done and – more specifically – who we'd done it in front of.

I looked timidly up at the figure looming behind them. Sakura's dad. Oh crap, oh crap, oh, crap…

"It was a temporary power transfer," Keroberus finished explaining. "Once the Emptiness took his most important feeling, then _all_ of the power he had stolen will have been returned to their previous owners. It'll have snapped the connection."

Startled, I lifted my hand, tracing the wind symbol on the air. A light breeze swirled around us, cooling the hot air.

"It's still there," I murmured, excitedly, turning to Sakura. All my own excitement was mirrored on her weary face. If it was even at all possible, I fell in love with her even more. I had a feeling that was going to happen every day from now on.

"Phew!"

Sakura and I glared furiously at Keroberus' sigh of relief. I squinted at him uncertainly.

"You didn't know for sure, did you?" I accused. I took advantage of knowing I had it to heal Sakura's injury, and she wobbled a grateful smile at me.

"Nope!" Keroberus said cheerfully, grinning as widely as a really big demented cat with wings can. I resolved to throttle him as soon as he resumed his usual teddy bear form.

Sakura obviously knew what I was thinking, as she held my hand. I started to blush again, even considering everything. "I'll kill him later for you," she said brightly.

"I'll help," Fujitaka said, his deep voice amused. I flickered a speculative glance at him. He stepped forwards, and put one hand on my shoulder and another on Sakura's. "You kids did good," he said with a warm smile.

It was an acceptance. My heart thrilled.

"Tomoyo's gonna be mad she missed this," Sakura mused thoughtfully, squeezing my hand tighter. I looked at her quizzically, still in complete disbelief that I was there, and she loved me too, and it had all worked out, and I still had my magic, and she loved me, and her dad was okay with it, and did I mention she _loved_ me????

Best. Day. Ever.

Yeah!

I cheered inwardly, even as we waited for Sakura to finish.

"Why?" Fujitaka asked, sizing up Yue discretely. I shared a smirk with Keroberus, who'd also seen what Fujitaka was doing.

"'cause she didn't get to tape this," she said.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Yue said. He was still trying to be aloof, but he looked vaguely unsettled. Probably a combination of worrying how close they'd come to losing Sakura and of worrying about the way Fujitaka was looking at him.

We all stared at him as if he'd gone mad.

"Up on the hill," Yue said. "They've been there for at least the last half hour."

I turned my head with dread, to see Rika, Naoko, my sister Fuu Tie, Chiharu and Yamazaki standing on the hill, waving and cheering at us. Chiharu had forsaken her usual mallet for a video camera.

I hid my head in Sakura's shoulder with a groan.

"They'll have taped us-" I said.

"Ahuh," Sakura said with an embarrassed grin.

"And Tomoyo will-"  
"Ahuh."

"Aw, crap," I said, eloquently.

Sakura just grinned and yanked me closer. I let out a yelp and coloured instantly.

Fujitaka and Yue exchanged a glance and started to laugh. Sakura's eyes widened at the sight of Yue laughing.  
"Weirdest day _ever_," Sakura murmured.

I shook my head, using one hand to push her hair away from her face, revelling in the feel of her soft silky hair in my fingers. "Nu-uh," I said, firmly, stealing another lingering kiss from her and not giving a damn who was watching, taping or anything else for that matter. "Best day ever."

Sakura grinned at me with the full force of her star.

Helpless to do anything else, I grinned right on back.

-----

_When I think back all these times_

_Had _the dreams we left behind

_I'll be glad 'cause I was blessed to get to have you in my life_

_When I look back on these days_

_I'll look and see your face_

_You were right there for me_

_In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky_

_In my heart there'll always be a place for you for all my life_

_I'll keep a part of you with me_

_And everywhere I am there you'll be._

_And everywhere I am there you'll be._

_Well you showed me how it feels_

_To feel the sky within my reach_

_And I always will remember all the strength you gave to me_

_Your love made me make it through_

_Oh I owe so much to you_

_You were right there for me._

_In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky_

_In my heart there'll always be a place for you for all my life_

_I'll keep a part of you with me_

_And everywhere I am there you'll be._

_'Cause I always saw in you my light, my strength_

_And I want you to thank you now for all the ways_

_You were right there for me_

_You were right there for me, ohhhh_

_In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky_

_In my heart there'll always be a place for you for all my life_

_I'll keep a part of you with me_

_And everywhere I am there you'll be._

_And everywhere I am there you'll be._

_There you'll be._

**_Faith Hill "There You'll Be."_**

**The End**


End file.
